Richard Brandon Morris (July 24, 1904 – March 3, 1989) was an American historian best known for his pioneering work in colonial American legal history and the early history of American labor. In later years, he shifted his research interests to the constitutional, diplomatic, and political history of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the making of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

Background

Richard Brandon Morris was born on July 24, 1904, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He attended high school at Townsend Harris Hall in New York City. In 1924, he received a BA degree from City College. In 1925, he received an MA from Columbia University, and in 1930 he received a PhD in history at the university with Evarts Boutell Greene as his dissertation advisor. Morris' dissertation, published by

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

as ''Studies in the History of American Law, with Special Reference to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (1930), still defines the research agenda for historians working on early American law, though at the time it attracted bitter denunciations from law school practitioners of legal historym, including Julius Goebel, Jr. and Karl Llewellyn, both then Columbia Law School faculty members.

Career

City College of New York

In 1927, Morris began teaching History at the City College of New York until in 1946 he was named to the faculty of Columbia University, after having published ''Government and Labor in Early America'' (1946).

Columbia University

In 1949, Morris left City College to teach at Columbia University. Eventually, he became Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia (no relation), Richard B. Morris continued his pioneering research and writing. Morris was privately opposed to the

Columbia University protests of 1968 In 1968, a series of protests at Columbia University in New York City were one among the various student demonstrations that Protests of 1968, occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year aft ...

and the agenda of the radicals, but made no public statements on the matter. After some of his books were stolen while his office was occupied during the protests, he sought employment elsewhere to no avail.

Project '87

In 1976, following the general scholarly disappointment with the bicentennial of the American Revolution, Morris, then president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

, joined with James MacGregor Burns, then president of the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

, to found Project '87—a joint effort to mark the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. Project '87 brought together historians, political scientists, and legal scholars and managed to salvage the Constitution's bicentennial as an occasion for the publication of groundbreaking new historical and legal scholarship on the Constitution and its origins. Morris's own contribution to the Bicentennial, and the culmination of his life's work as a historian, was ''The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789,'' his 1987 volume for the ''New American Nation'' series.

Personal life and death

In 1930, Morris married the author and composer Berenice Robinson; they had two sons, Jeffrey B. Morris, a constitutional and legal historian who teaches at the Touro Law School in New York, and Donald R. Morris, a teacher in Wyoming. Morris died age 84 in New York City of

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

Works

Columbia University colleague Henry Steele Commager enlisted Morris as co-editor of the influential ''New American Nation'' series, a collaborative history of the United States published by Harper & Row. In 1966 he won the Bancroft Prize in History for his book on the diplomacy of the

, ''The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence'' (1965). This project, and the acquisition by Columbia University of the papers of

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

, led him into one of his most productive scholarly ventures. Two volumes of an unfinished four-volume edition of the previously unpublished papers of John Jay followed (1976, 1980), taking Jay's life from his birth in 1745 to his return to the United States in 1784 to become the Confederation's Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Morris also quarried from his work on Jay a series of lectures in the Gaspar G. Bacon Lecture Series at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, which in 1967 he published as ''John Jay, the Nation, and the Court,'' focusing on Jay as a committed nationalist in his work as a diplomat and as the first Chief Justice of the United States. Morris's Phelps Lectures at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

resulted in his 1966 book ''The American Revolution Reconsidered,'' which he followed in 1970 with his ''The Emerging Nations and the American Revolution.'' In 1973, preparing for the impending bicentennial of the American Revolution, he published ''Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries'', a collection of biographical essays about

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

, and

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

. * Richard B. Morris, ''Studies in the Early History of American Law, With Special Reference to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (1930, 1959) * Richard B. Morris,
Government and Labor in Early America
' (1946) * Richard B. Morris, ''Encyclopedia of American History'' (1953 and later editions) * Richard B. Morris, ''The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence'' (1965) * Richard B. Morris, ''The American Revolution Reconsidered'' (1966) * Richard B. Morris, ''John Jay, the Nation, and the Court'' (1967) * Richard B. Morris, ''Fair Trial: Fourteen Who Stood Accused, from Anne Hutchinson to Alger Hiss'' (1967) * Richard B. Morris, ''The Emerging Nations and the American Revolution'' (1970) * Richard B. Morris, ''Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries'' (1973) * Richard B. Morris, ed., ''John Jay: Unpublished Papers, 1743–1780'' (1976) * Richard B. Morris, "The American Revolution as an Anti-colonial War" in ''Conspectus of History'' (1976) * Richard B. Morris, ed., ''John Jay: Unpublished Papers, 1780–1784'' (1980) * Richard B. Morris, ''Witnesses at the Creation: Hamilton, Madison, Jay and the Constitution'' (1985) * Richard B. Morris, ''The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789'' (1987)

Awards

* 1966: Bancroft Prize in History for ''The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence''

References

External links

Bibliography from getcited.org"Richard B. Morris", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''Finding aid to Richard B. Morris papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Richard B. American legal historians 1904 births Columbia Law School alumni Columbia University faculty Historians of the American Revolution Historians of the Thirteen Colonies Presidents of the American Historical Association 1989 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Bancroft Prize winners American male non-fiction writers