Gouverneur Morris Quotes
This magistrate is not the king. The people are the king.
While he thought a people had a right to have a king, he also made radical statements regarding the British and their monarchy. See {633999}. The right of a people to have a king was also stated by the President of Harvard in that period— {633996}.
This was the first contact between the colonists and the French government. The French agent was very non committal and the parties were just feeling each other out. Franklin made it perfectly clear that the colonists would not trade the English King for a French one and become part of the French empire.
Note the similarity to Lincoln who Ataturk very much admired.
While this has been one of the great American principles of political philosophy, in reality we have on many occasions interfered when a people chose an enemy of the United States or made a choice of a government which would seize power and not allow any further free choices. However, from the time JFK made this statement to today, our foreign policy record has become much better on implementing this principle.
The absurdity was that Adolf Hitler had more unilateral power and authority than and king did in the 20th century.
Huey P. Long credited this quotation for the origin of his famous slogan, "Every Man a King, but No Man Wears a Crown”. See {609936}
Gouverneur Morris was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution and has been called the "Penman of the Constitution." In an era when most Americans thought of themselves as citizens of their respective states, Morris advanced the idea of being a citizen of a single union of states. He was also one of the most outspoken opponents of slavery among all of those who were present at the Constitutional Convention. He represented New York in the United States Senate from 1800 to 1803.
