Thomas Morris (Ohio politician)

Biography

Morris was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and enlisted as a Ranger to fight the Indians in 1793. He settled in western Ohio two years later. Morris began practicing law in Bethel, Ohio in 1804.

Career

On May 12, 1806, shortly after the beginning of the 1806–1807 term of the Ohio House of Representatives, Morris contested the election of David C. Bryan and was awarded the seat from Clermont County.

Morris served in the Ohio State House of Representatives for Clermont County in 1806–1807, 1808–1809, 1810–1811, and 1820–1821. He served as Justice of the Ohio State Supreme Court in 1809. He was then a member of the Ohio State Senate for Clermont County in 1813–1815, 1821–1823, 1825–1829 and 1831–1833.

He was elected as Jacksonian Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1833, and served a single term.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/thomas_morris/407957|title=Sen. Thomas Morris

Family life

Morris was the father of Isaac Newton Morris and Jonathan David Morris.{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000989|title=Tolleson, Arizona |publisher= Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date=August 24, 2012}}

Death

He died December 7, 1844.

Legacy

Morris was instrumental in developing and articulating the theoretical basis for the antislavery constitution. Author and prominent American Civil War historian Eric Foner argues in his seminal book Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men that Sen. Morris is one of the most significant figures in the anti-slavery movement and the "first political martyr of the anti-slavery cause when he was denied re-election to the Senate because of his abolitionist convictions." He also argues that Morris "awakened (Salmon Chase) to the character of the Slave Power and to the need for political organization to combat its influences," leading the way for the term Slave Power to enter the American political jargon and paving the way for the creation of the Republican Party.

References

References

1. Taylor, William A.. (1899). "Ohio Statesmen and Annals of Progress, from the Year 1788 to the Year 1900". Westbote.
2. Gilkey, Elliot Howard. (1901). "The Ohio Hundred Year Book". Fred J. Heer.
3. Crago, David C.. (2023). "The creation of a crusader: Senator Thomas Morris and the birth of the antislavery movement". The Kent State University Press.
4. (1970). "Free soil, free labor, free men: the ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War.". Oxford University Press.