Lewis Morris

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For other persons named Lewis Morris, see Lewis Morris (disambiguation).

Lewis Morris

Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726– January 22, 1798) was an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New York.

This Morris was the third to be named Lewis, and was born on the family estate of Morrisania. He was the son of Lewis and Katrintje (Staats) Moris. His great grandfather (Robert, died 1672) had immigrated to New York through Barbados after being part of Oliver Cromwell's army in the English Civil War of 1648. He purchased the first tract of land in The Bronx that became the basis for the Morrisania manor. His grandfather Lewis Morris (1671-1746) expanded and patented the estate. Lewis attended Yale, and graduated in 1746. When his father (also Lewis) died in 1762, he inherited the bulk of the estate.

A prominent land owner in colonial New York, Lewis was appointed as a judge of the Admiralty Court for the province in 1760. As the Revolution drew near, he resigned this post in 1774. He was elected to the Colonial Assembly in 1769. When active revolution began, he was a member of New York's Convention (revolutionary government) from 1775 until 1777. That body, in turn, sent Morris to the Continental Congress for those same years.

In Congress, he was an active supporter of independence, and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. When warned by his brother of the consequences that would follow his signing of the rebellious document, Morris stated, "Damn the consequences. Give me the pen."

Lewis returned to New York in 1777, serving the new state government in its Senate from 1778 to 1781 and again from 1783 to 1790. His younger half-brother Gouverneur Morris was named to his seat in the Congress. When the New York convention met to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1788 he was one of the delegates.

Morris had to rebuild the family estate after the Revolution, since it had been looted and burned by the British when they occupied New York. In 1790, he offered the land, now part of the South Bronx neighborhood of Morrisania as the site of the US capital. Always active in the community, he was a member of the first board to regents for New York University and served from 1784 until 1798. He died on the estate, and is buried in the family vault beneath St. Anne's Episcopal Church in the Bronx.