3. Gouverneur Morris precipitated numerous affairs with married women which were open secrets
Another lesser-known Founder, Morris, was mischievous throughout his adult life, preferring illicit relationships with married women. His activities included liaisons with the wives of powerful men and tradesmen, in Europe and in the United States. He recorded intimate activities in his diaries and referred to them openly in letters. In France he arranged a “personal” encounter with the wife of a man who was only one floor above them in the Louvre, then a palace of the French King. He wrote of the encounter taking place in a room with the doors open, and the possibility of visitors ever-present. Not until he was 57 years old did he decide to marry his housekeeper, 22 years his junior. Yet his extracurricular activities continued unabated, to the chagrin of many of his contemporaries.
Morris did little to conceal his activities, and they were a frequent subject of discussion among the Founders, usually in taverns and taprooms. When he was 32, Morris was involved in a carriage accident, which led to his losing a leg to amputation (he was fleeing an outraged husband he had cuckolded at the time). John Jay later quipped to Morris that he wished his fellow diplomat had lost something else. Morris’s contributions to the formative United States were substantial, including the creation of the phrase, “We the People of the United States”, as well as the rest of the Preamble to the Constitution. He later helped create much of modern New York, supporting the Erie Canal and creating the grid system for the streets of Manhattan. The scandal didn’t bother him in life, and it hasn’t since, though he was seldom not involved in one.