Gouverneur Morris chiefly wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution, a founding text highlighted by America250.
Morris served as a delegate from Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He led the Committee of Style, which prepared the final wording and organization of the Constitution after the convention had debated its main provisions.
The Preamble begins with “We the People of the United States” and states six broad purposes: forming a more perfect Union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing liberty. Morris shaped this polished opening during the convention’s final days.
The Preamble is an introduction rather than a detailed grant of governmental powers. Courts and historians have nevertheless examined it as evidence of the Constitution’s purposes. Morris’s authorship is sometimes confused with James Madison’s major role in planning the convention and drafting the Virginia Plan, or with George Washington’s role as convention president. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.