Legacy by James A. Michener Read Free Book Online Page B

both him and his subject:
    IV i There was another delegate from Pennsylvania whom I came to know late and unfavourably. I seemed unable to apprehend him, for although he was only seven or eight years older than me, he acquired such a suave manner, which he displayed at every opportunity, that I both loathed and envied him. He was Gouverneur Morris, big and plump and almost oily, with the habit of reaching out to touch anyone whom he was striving to best in an argument. He spoke far more than anyone else in the Convention, but when I listened closely to what he said, he seemed to come down on all sides of every argu- ment, but he had the effective tactic of admit- ting at the beginning of one of his amusing speeches that yes, he did yesterday say that he was against this motion but that overnight con- versation with those who knew more about it than he had convinced him that he was wrong, and then he would launch into a vigorous defense of his new position. I stopped listening to his first four speeches on any topic, waiting until he reached his fifth position, which some- times made great sense, for he was not stupid, just lacking in character.
    What astounded me about Morris as I followed
    his wavering career was his effect upon women, for whenever a wife or daughter vis- ited Philadelphia to stay with one of the del- egates, there he was, like a gallant from the palace of Louis XIV paying court and kissing wrists and uttering compliments that would make an ordinary man blush. He was reputed to be a dashing man with the ladies, and I noticed that when a tavern maid brought him a
    mug of ale, he treated her with the same exalted courtesy and courtship that he paid the wife of a wealthy businessman, and the tavern maid accepted his graciousness as if it were her right.
    All this, mind you, with a withered right arm damaged by boiling water when he was a child and a big, clanking wooden left leg, the conse- quence of a riding accident in his youth. He was Caliban and I did not like him
    But Simon penned a second report on Morris, and it has been this one which immortalizes the pomp- ous ladies' man:
    By late Saturday afternoon, 8 September 1787, we delegates felt that we had made all the deci- sions necessary to launch our young nation on a bold new course, but the various papers report- ing our conclusions were a sad jumble. So Gen- eral Washington instructed us to vote in secret for five of our members who would bring order into this chaos. When the votes were counted, five of our ablest men had been chosen, Hamilton and Madison among them, and they were handed the impossible task of setting our new government in order. They were to work Saturday night, all day Sunday, and submit their finished job on Monday -and it did indeed prove to be an impossible task. For on Monday they reported sleepily that they would require one extra day, and it was granted.
    To my surprise, Gouverneur Morris had been elected to this august body which would make all the final decisions, but when I asked my
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    friends why, they reminded me: 'He does have a, way with words.'
    No written account exists of how the committee spent their three nights and two days, but word circulated that the members were aghast when they looked at the jumble of papers before them and realized that they faced twenty-three rambling, disorganized and sometimes contra- dictory Articles which they must hammer into a coherent document. I believe, and so do others, that Morris stepped forward, gathered the mass into his arms, one good, one withered, and sat down to rewrite the whole. The other four, awed by the complexity of the task, were glad to have him try his hand.
    Hamilton told me: 'It was Morris who wrote that sterling preamble. He borrowed the phrase We the People from an earlier version, but on his own he added the important words of the United States. And he alone was respon- sible for that musket fire of eight short, simple verbs denoting action and determination: