Hello, friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center,

and welcome to We the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate. The National Constitution

Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit, chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding

of the Constitution among the American people.

In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of Gouverner Morris, the founding father who drafted the preamble to the Constitution. We discuss his vivid personal story, his pivotal

role on the Committee of Style at the Constitutional Convention, his commitment to abolitionism,

and his reputation as the funniest

founder. Joining me are three leading scholars of Gouverna Morris. Melanie Miller is the editor

of the Gouverna Morris Papers Diaries Project. Dennis Rasmussen is Professor of Political Science

and the Hagerty Family Fellow at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship

and Public Affairs. He wrote the Constitution's penman, Gouverner Morris, and the creation of

America's basic charter. William Traynor is the dean of Georgetown University Law Center,

an author of the forthcoming book, Fathers of the Constitution, Triumph, Tragedy, and the Creation of

of the American Republic. Enjoy the show. Thank you so much for joining. Melanie, Dennis, and Bill,

Dennis, why don't we start with you? Because your book is just out, the Constitution's penman,

Gouverner Morris, and the creation of America's

basic charter. Tell us who was Gouverna Morris, and why should we care about it?

Well, I think Morris is quite possibly the most interesting of the American founders, just period.

And he's, as you suggested, he's almost certainly the most important of the founders who very few people have even heard of.

So one scholar declared recently that he may have been the most colorful individual in all of

North America at the time of the founding, and that frankly sounds about right to me.

He was a peg-legged ladies man with a really wicked sardonic sense of humor.

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