Entering upon the practice of law, he soon gained a high reputation. lu 1775 he was a delegate to the Provincial Congress in New York. The same year he was appointed a member of the Committee for Public Safety for Westchester County. In 1776 he was one of the committee for draughting a Constitution for the State of New York. He went to France in 1787 and remained in Paris until 1795, as American minister, witnessing thus the terrible scenes of the French Revolution from its incipiency to its consummation.

He exhibited as great ability in his public capacities as he had displayed oratorical talents and legal learning at the bar. He was a member cf the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States; "was chosen Senator of New York in 1800, and in 1808 appointed one of their commissioners to lay out the city of New York into streets and avenues • north of Bleecker Street. In the summer of 1810 he examined the route for the Erie Canal, and took an active part in originating and promoting that noble work." 2

He died in 1816, aged sixty-four. His wife was Ann Carey Randolph, daughter of Thomas Randolph, of Roanoke, and a descendant of the celebrated Pocahontas. He left a son, Gouverneur Morris, Esq., of Morrisania. Barber, already quoted, says of him -- " The activity of his mind, the richness of his fancy and the copiousness of his eloquent conversation were the admiration of all his acquaintances, and he was universally admitted as one of the most accomplished and prominent men of our country."