Morris

Hillquit, Morris, 1869-1933, American lawyer and Socialist leader, b. Riga, Latvia (then in Russia). He came to the United States in 1886. He was the leader of the right-wing, or constitutional, Socialists in their revolt against the radical leadership of Daniel De Leon in 1899. This revolt split the Socialist Labor party and led (1900) to the founding of the Social Democratic party, which evolved into the Socialist party. Hillquit from the beginning was the dominant theorist and tactician of the party, representing it on the executive committee of the Socialist and Labor International. He vigorously opposed U.S. entry into World War I and served as the defense lawyer in many espionage cases against socialists. He also served for many years as counsel to a number of labor unions. He was his party's candidate for mayor of New York City twice and for Congressman five times. In 1924 he led the Socialists into Robert M. La Follette's Progressive party. He wrote an autobiography Loose Leaves from a Busy Life (1934, repr. 1971).

Louis, Morris, 1912-62, American painter, b. Baltimore. A practitioner of color-field painting, Louis was noted for soaking poured paint through unsized and often unstretched canvas. Prior to 1960 he did a series of veil and floral paintings using overlapping areas of muted, transparent colors in organic patterns. After 1960, Louis worked with more precisely defined poured columns of color in a vertical or diagonal format, e.g., Lambda (1960-61; Emmerich Gall., New York City).

Morris, family of prominent American landowners and statesmen. Richard Morris, d. 1672, left England after serving in Oliver Cromwell's army, became a merchant in Barbados, and emigrated to New York City when it was known, under the Dutch, as New Amsterdam. He purchased a tract of land in what is now the Bronx, which, along with other real estate, descended to his son, Lewis Morris (1671-1746; see separate article). The New York estate was erected into a manor, called Morrisania, in 1697. Lewis's eldest son, Lewis Morris, 1698-1762, b. Morrisania, was the second lord of the manor and became judge of the high court of admiralty. His brother, Robert Hunter Morris, c.1700-1764, b. Morrisania, was appointed (1738) chief justice of New Jersey by his father and later became (1754) governor of Pennsylvania; protests from the western counties over his administration of frontier defenses resulted in his resignation in 1756. The third and last lord of the manor was Lewis Morris (1726-98; see separate article). His brothers included Gouverneur Morris (see separate article) and Richard Morris, 1730-1810, b. Morrisania, who was a judge of the admiralty court, like his father, and was appointed (1779) chief justice of the New York state supreme court despite his lack of ardor for the Revolutionary cause. Morrisania was annexed to the city of New York as part of the Bronx in 1874. Richard Morris's son, Lewis Richard Morris, 1760-1825, b. Scarsdale, N.Y., saw active service during the early part of the Revolution and was (1781-83) assistant to the secretary of foreign affairs. He established a manor at Springfield, Vt., was active in Vermont politics, and served (1797-1803) as Representative in the U.S. Congress. Another member of the family was Richard Valentine Morris (see separate article).

Morris, Edward Patrick Morris, 1st Baron, 1859-1935, Newfoundland political leader, b. St. John's. He sat (1885-1918) in the Newfoundland parliament and was a delegate to the conference called (1895) at Ottawa to discuss the possible entry of Newfoundland into the dominion of Canada. Later he represented Newfoundland at many imperial conferences and was (1910) counsel for the British government in the N Atlantic fisheries dispute. From 1909 to 1918 he was prime minister of Newfoundland. After World War I he went to England to live. He was created a baron in 1918.

Morris, Gouverneur, 1752-1816, American political leader and diplomat, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); a grandson of Lewis Morris (1671-1746), he was born to wealth and influence. He studied law and was admitted (1771) to the bar. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he adopted the colonial cause (although several members of his family were Loyalists). A superb orator, eloquent writer, and fine literary stylist, he was a member (1775-77) of the provincial congress of New York, helped to draft the first state constitution, and served on the Council of Safety. Morris sat (1778-79) in the Continental Congress, where he was prominent in financial, military, and diplomatic affairs. In 1779 his book Observations on the American Revolution was published.

After failing to win reelection to the Congress Morris moved to Philadelphia and resumed his law practice. A series of newspaper articles on finance secured him the post of assistant to Robert Morris (no relative) in handling the finances of the new government (1781-85). In this position he planned the U.S. decimal coinage system. As a member of the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787 Morris played an active role, defending a strong centralized government and a powerful executive, opposing concessions on slavery, and putting the Constitution into its final literary form. He remained, however, a champion of aristocracy who distrusted democratic rule.

In 1789 Moris went to France as a private business agent, remained in Europe, and was appointed (1792) U.S. minister to France. During the French Revolution his sympathies lay with the royalists; he even helped plan a scheme to rescue Louis XVI. His recall was requested in 1794, but he traveled for several years before returning to America in 1798. From 1800 to 1803, Morris, a Federalist, was a U.S. senator from New York. He then retired to his estate. He condemned the War of 1812, going so far as to recommend the severance of the federal union. Morris was a strong advocate of the Erie Canal and served as chairman (1810-13) of the canal commission.

Morris, Lewis, 1671-1746, American colonial official, first lord of the manor of Morrisania in New York. The son of Richard Morris (d. 1672; see Morris, family), he was born in that part of Westchester co. that is now part of the Bronx, New York City. He inherited large properties in New York and New Jersey, and in 1697 his New York estate was patented as the manor of Morrisania. In 1702, Morris traveled to England to help bring about the fall of proprietary government in New Jersey. He became a bitter opponent of the arbitrary rule of Lord Cornbury, who was governor of both New York and New Jersey, and aided in securing his removal (1708). In 1715 he was made chief justice of New York, but a subsequent struggle with Gov. William Cosby resulted in his removal (1733). Upon the separation (1738) of New Jersey from New York, Morris became the first governor of New Jersey, serving until his death. His stern administration was marked by much opposition and quarreling.

Morris, Lewis, 1698-1762: see under Morris, family.

Morris, Lewis, 1726-98, American political leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); elder half brother of Gouverneur Morris. A wealthy landowner and third lord of the manor of Morrisania after 1762, he was prominent among the opponents of British policies and was influential in promoting the provincial convention of New York (1775) and in the Continental Congress (1775-77). After the war he restored his estate at Morrisania, which had been burned and plundered by the British. He continued to be prominent in New York affairs.

Morris, Lewis Richard, 1760-1825: see under Morris, family.

Morris, Mark 1956-, American dancer and choreographer, b. Seattle, Wash. After training in Balkan folk dance, flamenco, and ballet, he went on to dance for Eliot Feld, Laura Dean, and Lar Lubovitch. His own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, debuted in New York in 1980; from 1988 to 1991 it was the resident company the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. In 1990 he and Mikhail Baryshnikov established the White Oak Dance Project, a group formed to choreograph and perform new dance. In 2001 his company moved into permanent studios in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Since the 1980s Morris's dances have attracted great interest for their craftsmanship, ingenuity, musicality, and iconoclastic choreography as well as their sometimes eclectic and always live musical accompaniments; his solo performance of O Rangasayee, for example, was danced to an Indian raga. He won particular acclaim for The Hard Nut (1991), a campily ebullient version of The Nutcracker set in the 1960s. Generally less ironic and more serious in tone, his other works include L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed Il Moderato (1988), Dido and Aeneas (1989), The Office (1995), Greek to Me (2000), a dance version of the Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein opera Four Saints in Three Acts (2001), the ballet The Garden (2001), the modern dance pieces V (2002), All Fours (2004), and Rock of Ages (2005), a new version of the classic ballet Sylvia (2004), Mozart Dances (2006), a joyous vaudevillesque version of Purcell's King Arthur (2006), and a new ballet to Prokofiev's score for Romeo and Juliet (2008). Morris officially retired as a dancer in 2006.

Morris, Mary Philipse: see under Morris, Roger.

Morris, Richard, d. 1672: see under Morris, family.

Morris, Richard, 1730-1810: see under Morris, family.

Morris, Richard Brandon, 1904-89, American historian, b. New York City. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1930, taught (1927-49) at the College of the City of New York, became a professor at Columbia in 1949, and was made Gouverneur Morris professor of history in 1959. His works in colonial history include Government and Labor in Early America (1946), a pioneering study, and Guide to Sources for Early American History (1600-1800) in New York City (written with Evarts B. Greene, rev. ed. 1953), an invaluable aid to scholars. Also a student of legal history, Morris wrote Studies in the History of American Law (1930) and Fair Trial (1952). Morris is also considered an expert on the American Revolution and wrote The Peacemakers (1965), The American Revolution Reconsidered (1967), and Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny (1973). He edited the Encyclopedia of American History (enl. and upd., 1970) and, with H. S. Commager, was general editor of the "New American Nation Series."

Morris, Richard Valentine, 1768-1815, American naval officer, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); son of Lewis Morris (1726-98). After the American Revolution he entered the navy and was commissioned captain in 1798. As commander of a squadron in 1802, he was sent to the Mediterranean to undertake negotiations with Tripoli and the other Barbary States to end the Tripolitan War. Unsuccessful in concluding peace with Tripoli and unfortunate in dealing with the other powers, Morris was relieved of his command (1803), and his commission was revoked. His pamphlet, A Defense of the Conduct of Commodore Morris during His Command in the Mediterranean (1804), is valuable for its official documents on the negotiations.

Morris, Robert, 1734-1806, American merchant, known as the "financier of the American Revolution," and signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Liverpool, England. Morris emigrated to America in 1747 and was soon apprenticed to the merchant Charles Willing in Philadelphia. He showed an unusual aptitude for business and by 1754 became a partner in the firm with the son, Thomas Willing, after the elder Willing's death. He opposed British restrictions prior to the Revolution and served (1775-78) as a member of the Continental Congress. Morris voted against the original motion for independence in July, 1776, as premature, but signed the declaration in August. A member of various committees in Congress, Morris was particularly important in obtaining munitions and other supplies and in borrowing money to finance George Washington's army. Although Morris's vast mercantile interests profited greatly from his congressional activities, both he and his firm were acquitted by Congress of charges of fraud. After leaving Congress, Morris expanded his mercantile and investment operations independently of Willing and by 1781 was almost universally acknowledged as the most prominent merchant in America. The collapse of public credit led to his being appointed superintendent of finance (1781-84) by Congress. Morris labored hard and well in this office; he pressed the states for contributions, retrenched expenditures, took steps toward the establishment of a national mint, guided the organization of a national bank, and extensively used his personal credit to raise funds for the government. He framed, but failed to get Congress to approve, a fiscal program including funding at par of the national debt and the assumption of state debts; it paralleled Alexander Hamilton's program of 1790. Morris was later a member of the U.S. Constitutional Convention (1787) and served (1789-95) as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. His private business, continued in his terms of office, ultimately ended in bankruptcy as a result of the collapse of extensive land speculation. Morris was in debtors' prison from 1798 to 1801 and never recovered his fortune.

Morris, Robert, 1931-, American artist, b. Kansas City, Mo. He settled in New York City in 1960 and was allied in his early work with the simple, impersonal forms of minimalism, e.g., an untitled 1965 work consisting of four blocks of gray fiberglass. He also often used mirrored surfaces in his sculpture. Implicit in his work is the idea that art can be made of anything. Morris's style and media have changed many times during his career. He has used nonrigid materials such as felt and even steam—precluding reproducible forms and emphasizing the process of art—and was also involved in conceptual art and land art. He is known for his enormous multipart sculptures of the 1980s, which include a wide variety of materials, notably casts of body parts and skeletons. Morris has also experimented in performance art, incorporating dance, theater, and the plastic arts. He is a rigorous theorist of art and an influential teacher.

Morris, Robert Hunter: see under Morris, family.

Morris, Roger, 1727-94, Loyalist in the American Revolution, b. Yorkshire, England. He came (1755) to America as aide-de-camp to Gen. Edward Braddock and fought under James Wolfe at Quebec. After his service in the British army he settled (1764) in New York City with his wife, Mary Philipse. They lived in the famous Morris Mansion (later the Jumel Mansion). At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Morris was sympathetic to the British but refused to fight against the patriots. His wife, Mary Philipse Morris, 1730-1825, inherited her wealth from her father, Frederick Philipse. Handsome and imperious, she is said to have attracted numerous suitors, among them George Washington. After her marriage (1758) her property holdings—including a large estate in Putnam co., N.Y.—were passed on to Roger Morris. Soon after the outbreak of the American Revolution the family's property was confiscated by an act of attainder of the New York state legislature. Subsequently, she left (1783) for England with her husband and four children. Her heirs (who by Mary Philipse's marriage settlement had a right to those estates and had not themselves been attainted) sold their reversionary interests to John Jacob Astor for £20,000. To this the British government added £17,000 in compensation for Morris's losses incurred by New York state's confiscation.

Morris, William, 1834-96, English poet, artist, craftsman, designer, social reformer, and printer. He has long been considered one of the great Victorians and has been called the greatest English designer of the 19th cent.

While at Oxford, Morris, along with his lifelong friend Edward Burne-Jones, became deeply interested in the ritual and architecture of the Middle Ages. However, Morris's great awakening came through his readings of John Ruskin, whose ideas on aestheticism and social progress he gradually adopted. In 1856, after being apprenticed to an architect, Morris attached himself to the brotherhood of Pre-Raphaelites and through the encouragement of Dante Gabriel Rossetti began to paint and write. In 1858 he published his first volume of poems, The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems. This was followed by The Life and Death of Jason (1867) and The Earthly Paradise (3 vol., 1868-70), in which a group of medieval Norse wanderers seek a land where there is no death or misery. Although popular in its time, his poetry is not widely read today.

With friends, he started (1861) the firm of decorators later famous as Morris and Company, which, in reaction to growing industrialism, sought a return to the working operations of the Middle Ages and a revitalization of the splendor of medieval decorative arts (see arts and crafts). He made carvings, stained glass, tapestries, carpets, wallpaper, chintzes, and furniture. Today he is especially known for his fabric and wallpaper designs, gracefully elaborate all-over patterns usually based on floral or animal motifs. In the 1870s he founded the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.

Morris also became interested in politics and reform, joining (1883) the socialist Democratic Federation and forming (1884) the Socialist League. Two notable prose works came out of this political phase, The Dream of John Ball (1888) and News from Nowhere (1891). In these works Morris contrasts the ugliness of the machine world with the poetry and beauty of the Middle Ages, setting forth the doctrine that art is the expression of joy in labor rather than an exclusive luxury. He made no distinction between art and craft and saw fine design and workmanship as the salvation of the industrial society. His last artistic venture, and one of his most important, was the Kelmscott Press in Hammersmith (est. 1890), where he designed the type, page borders, and bindings of fine books. Morris had a profound influence on the printing industry with his brilliant graphic contrast of ink with page and his elegantly designed type.

Morris, Wright (Wright Marion Morris), 1910-98, American writer, b. Central City, Nebr. He was for many years professor of English at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State Univ.). His fiction treats the relationship of the burden of American history to the present, and the evolution and continuity of the American character. His novels include The World in the Attic (1949), Love among the Cannibals (1957), Fire Sermon (1971), and Plains Song (1980). The Territory Ahead (1958) is a study of American literary tradition, and About Fiction (1975) is a critical work. Morris was also a photographer, noted particularly for his images of the Great Plains and for his combinations of text and photographs.

Carnovsky, Morris, 1897-1992, American actor, b. St. Louis. After his New York City debut in The God of Vengeance (1922), he joined the Theatre Guild and later performed with The Group Theatre, of which he was a founding member. He worked as an actor and director for the Actors Laboratory Theatre in Hollywood (1945-50). Carnovsky has concentrated on Shakespearean roles since his first appearance at Stratford, Conn., in 1956. His films include Cyrano de Bergerac (1951).

Rosenfeld, Morris, 1862-1923, Jewish poet, b. Russian Poland. His name was originally Moshe Jacob Alter. He worked as a tailor in London and as a diamond grinder in Amsterdam before emigrating to the United States in 1886. He settled in New York City, working 14 hours a day as a tailor while he wrote poetry for the Yiddish press. He later became editor of the New Yorker Morgenblatt and the Jewish Annals. His Lieder Buch (1897) was translated into English by the Harvard philologist Leo Wiener as Songs from the Ghetto (1898). It has also been translated into a number of European languages. Rosenfeld wrote of the hell of the sweatshop in such poems as "Mein Ingele" and "Cradle Song." He died in increasing blindness, illness, and poverty, despite the fame he had won.

Birkbeck, Morris, 1764-1825, English pioneer in the United States. One of the most advanced agriculturists in England, he had a huge farm in Surrey. In 1817 he emigrated to the United States. He and another English traveler, George Flower, sought to create a settlement in Illinois. The two quarreled, but the undertaking resulted in the occupation of thousands of acres of land and the founding of Albion, Ill. Birkbeck's Notes on a Journey … to the Territory of Illinois (1818, repr. 1968) and Letters from Illinois (1818, repr. 1968) helped to bring European settlers to the fertile prairies of the Middle West and are invaluable historical sources.

Sheppard, Morris, 1875-1941, American legislator, b. Morris co., Tex. He practiced law in Texas and was elected (1902) to Congress to succeed his father. He was in the House until his election (1913) to the Senate, where he served until his death. A Democrat, his name is connected with the Sheppard-Towner Act, which provided for federal and state cooperation toward maternity and infant welfare. Sheppard was an ardent prohibitionist and helped draw up the Webb-Kenyon Act (1913) to control interstate shipment of liquor and also wrote the Sheppard Bill (1916) to make the District of Columbia dry. He fathered the Senate resolution that eventually became the Eighteenth Amendment, and he helped frame the Volstead Act.

West, Morris (Morris Langlo West), 1916-99, Australian novelist, b. Melbourne. West's novels often reveal an interest in both Roman Catholicism and international politics, as reflected in his best-selling The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963), which concerns a Soviet cardinal who is named pope during an international crisis. Also set in the Vatican are West's The Clowns of God (1981) and Lazarus (1990). Among his other novels are The Devil's Advocate (1959), Harlequin (1974), The World Is Made of Glass (1983), Cassidy (1986), Vanishing Point (1996), and Eminence (1998). His spiritual memoir, A View from the Ridge: The Testimony of a Twentieth-Century Christian, was published in 1996.

Ritual folk dance mainly danced in rural England from about the 15th century. The name, a variant of “Moorish,” possibly arose in reference to the dancers' blacking their faces as part of the ritual disguise. It is principally a fertility dance, performed especially in the spring. Danced by groups of men often dressed in white and wearing bells on their legs, the steps are varied and intricate and are maintained in a jog-trot while handkerchiefs are waved in both hands. It calls for individual characters such as a hobbyhorse and a fool.

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(born March 24, 1834, Walthamstow, near London, Eng.—died Oct. 3, 1896, Hammersmith) British painter, designer, craftsman, poet, and social reformer, founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Born into a wealthy family, he studied medieval architecture at Oxford. He was apprenticed to an architect, but visits to Europe turned him toward painting. In 1861, with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, and others, he founded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., an association of “fine art workmen” based on the medieval guild. They produced furniture, tapestry, stained glass, fabrics, carpets, and most notably wallpaper designs. In 1891 Morris founded the Kelmscott Press, and over the next seven years it produced 53 h1s in 66 volumes; its Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest examples of the art of the printed book. Though he sought to produce fine art objects for the masses, only the rich could afford his expensive handmade products. A utopian socialist, he did much to develop British socialism; in 1884 he formed the Socialist League. In 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, one of the world's first preservationist groups. He wrote several volumes of poetry and many prose romances, as well as the four-volume epic Sigurd the Volsung (1876). His works and writings revolutionized Victorian taste, and he ranks as one of the largest cultural figures of 19th-century Britain.

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(born Feb. 9, 1931, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.) U.S. artist. His first one-man exhibition of paintings was held in San Francisco in 1957. In 1960, while living in New York City, he began producing large, monochromatic geometric sculptures, groups of which he exhibited in specific spatial relationships. His work of this period greatly affected the Minimalist movement, which sought to reduce art to its essence by eliminating personal expression and historical allusion. From the late 1960s, however, Morris moved toward a more spontaneous, if anonymous, expressiveness. He experimented in a wide variety of forms, including the “happening”; “dispersal pieces,” in which materials were strewn in apparent randomness on the gallery floor; and environmental projects. His work of the 1970s showed a preoccupation with paradoxes of mental and physical imprisonment.

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(born Oct. 31, 1827, Brattleboro, Vt., U.S.—died July 31, 1895, Rewport, R.I.) U.S. architect. He studied in Europe from 1843 to 1854, becoming the first U.S. architecture student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to the U.S. to establish the Beaux-Arts style there. His work was eclectic, ranging from ornate early French Renaissance to monumental Classicism to a picturesque villa style. He worked on the extension of the U.S. Capitol and designed the Tribune building in New York City (1873; since destroyed) and the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1900–02), also in New York. Among the mansions he designed for the new commercial aristocracy is the Breakers in Newport, R.I. (1892–95), which was created in an opulent Renaissance style for the Vanderbilts. Hunt was a founder of the American Institute of Architects.

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(born March 24, 1834, Walthamstow, near London, Eng.—died Oct. 3, 1896, Hammersmith) British painter, designer, craftsman, poet, and social reformer, founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Born into a wealthy family, he studied medieval architecture at Oxford. He was apprenticed to an architect, but visits to Europe turned him toward painting. In 1861, with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, and others, he founded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., an association of “fine art workmen” based on the medieval guild. They produced furniture, tapestry, stained glass, fabrics, carpets, and most notably wallpaper designs. In 1891 Morris founded the Kelmscott Press, and over the next seven years it produced 53 h1s in 66 volumes; its Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest examples of the art of the printed book. Though he sought to produce fine art objects for the masses, only the rich could afford his expensive handmade products. A utopian socialist, he did much to develop British socialism; in 1884 he formed the Socialist League. In 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, one of the world's first preservationist groups. He wrote several volumes of poetry and many prose romances, as well as the four-volume epic Sigurd the Volsung (1876). His works and writings revolutionized Victorian taste, and he ranks as one of the largest cultural figures of 19th-century Britain.

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(born Feb. 9, 1931, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.) U.S. artist. His first one-man exhibition of paintings was held in San Francisco in 1957. In 1960, while living in New York City, he began producing large, monochromatic geometric sculptures, groups of which he exhibited in specific spatial relationships. His work of this period greatly affected the Minimalist movement, which sought to reduce art to its essence by eliminating personal expression and historical allusion. From the late 1960s, however, Morris moved toward a more spontaneous, if anonymous, expressiveness. He experimented in a wide variety of forms, including the “happening”; “dispersal pieces,” in which materials were strewn in apparent randomness on the gallery floor; and environmental projects. His work of the 1970s showed a preoccupation with paradoxes of mental and physical imprisonment.

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(born Aug. 29, 1956, Seattle, Wash., U.S.) U.S. dancer and choreographer. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980. It was the resident company at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (1988–91), returned to the U.S. in 1991, and made its permanent home in Brooklyn in 2001. Known for his daring style, he has choreographed many works for his own company as well as for opera productions and television performances, including The Hard Nut (1991), his modernized version of The Nutcracker.

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(born , Jan. 31, 1752, Morrisania house, Manhattan—died Nov. 6, 1816, Morrisania house) American statesman and financial expert. He was admitted to the bar (1771) and served in the New York Provincial Congress (1775–77) and the Continental Congress (1778–79). He distrusted the democratic tendencies of colonists who wanted to break with England, but his belief in independence led him to join their ranks. As assistant superintendent of finance (1781–85), he proposed the decimal coinage system that became the basis for U.S. currency. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he helped write the final draft of the Constitution of the United States. He served as minister to France (1792–94) and as a U.S. Senator (1800–03), and he was the first chairman of the Erie Canal commission (1810–16).

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orig. Morris Louis Bernstein

(born Nov. 24, 1912, Baltimore, Md., U.S.—died Sept. 7, 1962, Washington, D.C.) U.S. painter. He studied painting at the Maryland Institute and worked as an easel painter for the WPA Federal Art Project. Inspired by Helen Frankenthaler's colour stain technique, in 1954 he began a series of paintings h1d Veils, featuring stained vertical waves of colour; these works had an impersonal, nonpainterly quality. During this period he became associated with the New York school of Abstract Expressionism. His later work featured diagonal parallel streams of colour that flowed across the bottom corners of the picture plane. In his last series, Stripes, bunched, straight vertical bands of colour are surrounded by empty canvas.

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Cape, in the Peary Land region, northern Greenland, on the Arctic Ocean. Situated 440 mi (710 km) from the North Pole, it is one of the world's most northerly points of land. Robert E. Peary was the first explorer to reach it in 1900; it was named for Morris K. Jesup, a merchant-banker who financed polar expeditions.

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orig. Morris Hillkowitz

(born Aug. 1, 1869, Riga, Latvia—died Oct. 7, 1933, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. socialist leader. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1886, joined the Socialist Labor Party, and helped found the United Hebrew Trades in 1888. When the party split, he led a moderate faction to help form the Social Democratic Party, which in 1901 became the Socialist Party. As the party's chief theoretician, he defined its position of pacifism during World War I and defended many socialists in court. He was twice the Socialist Party's unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York (1917, 1932).

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(born Aug. 29, 1956, Seattle, Wash., U.S.) U.S. dancer and choreographer. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980. It was the resident company at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (1988–91), returned to the U.S. in 1991, and made its permanent home in Brooklyn in 2001. Known for his daring style, he has choreographed many works for his own company as well as for opera productions and television performances, including The Hard Nut (1991), his modernized version of The Nutcracker.

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orig. Morris Louis Bernstein

(born Nov. 24, 1912, Baltimore, Md., U.S.—died Sept. 7, 1962, Washington, D.C.) U.S. painter. He studied painting at the Maryland Institute and worked as an easel painter for the WPA Federal Art Project. Inspired by Helen Frankenthaler's colour stain technique, in 1954 he began a series of paintings h1d Veils, featuring stained vertical waves of colour; these works had an impersonal, nonpainterly quality. During this period he became associated with the New York school of Abstract Expressionism. His later work featured diagonal parallel streams of colour that flowed across the bottom corners of the picture plane. In his last series, Stripes, bunched, straight vertical bands of colour are surrounded by empty canvas.

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(born Oct. 31, 1827, Brattleboro, Vt., U.S.—died July 31, 1895, Rewport, R.I.) U.S. architect. He studied in Europe from 1843 to 1854, becoming the first U.S. architecture student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to the U.S. to establish the Beaux-Arts style there. His work was eclectic, ranging from ornate early French Renaissance to monumental Classicism to a picturesque villa style. He worked on the extension of the U.S. Capitol and designed the Tribune building in New York City (1873; since destroyed) and the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1900–02), also in New York. Among the mansions he designed for the new commercial aristocracy is the Breakers in Newport, R.I. (1892–95), which was created in an opulent Renaissance style for the Vanderbilts. Hunt was a founder of the American Institute of Architects.

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orig. Morris Hillkowitz

(born Aug. 1, 1869, Riga, Latvia—died Oct. 7, 1933, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. socialist leader. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1886, joined the Socialist Labor Party, and helped found the United Hebrew Trades in 1888. When the party split, he led a moderate faction to help form the Social Democratic Party, which in 1901 became the Socialist Party. As the party's chief theoretician, he defined its position of pacifism during World War I and defended many socialists in court. He was twice the Socialist Party's unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York (1917, 1932).

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(born , Jan. 31, 1752, Morrisania house, Manhattan—died Nov. 6, 1816, Morrisania house) American statesman and financial expert. He was admitted to the bar (1771) and served in the New York Provincial Congress (1775–77) and the Continental Congress (1778–79). He distrusted the democratic tendencies of colonists who wanted to break with England, but his belief in independence led him to join their ranks. As assistant superintendent of finance (1781–85), he proposed the decimal coinage system that became the basis for U.S. currency. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he helped write the final draft of the Constitution of the United States. He served as minister to France (1792–94) and as a U.S. Senator (1800–03), and he was the first chairman of the Erie Canal commission (1810–16).

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(born Jan. 1, 1909, Phoenix, Airz., U.S.—died May 29, 1998, Paradise Valley, Ariz.) U.S. senator. He headed the family department-store business from 1937, and during World War II he was a U.S. Air Force pilot (1941–45). A Republican, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952, and he quickly established himself as a strong conservative, calling for a harsh diplomatic stance toward the Soviet Union, opposing arms-control negotiations with that country, and accusing the Democrats of creating a quasi-socialist state at home. In 1964 he won the Republican nomination for president but lost the election to Democratic Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson largely because of popular fears that Goldwater would provoke a nuclear war with the Soviets. Returning to the Senate (1969–87), he helped persuade Richard Nixon to resign in 1974. Goldwater moderated many of his views in later years, and he became a symbol of high-minded conservatism.

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(born Feb. 4, 1842, Copenhagen, Den.—died Feb. 19, 1927, Copenhagen) Danish critic and scholar. His published lectures at the University of Copenhagen, Main Currents in 19th-Century Thought, 6 vol. (1872–90), catalyzed the breakthrough from Romanticism to realism in Danish literature. His calls for writers to work in the service of progressive ideas and the reform of modern society, along with his championing of such writers as Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, earned strong conservative opposition but exerted enormous influence throughout Scandinavia. His other critical works include Men of the Modern Breakthrough (1883) and Danish Poets (1877).

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Cape, in the Peary Land region, northern Greenland, on the Arctic Ocean. Situated 440 mi (710 km) from the North Pole, it is one of the world's most northerly points of land. Robert E. Peary was the first explorer to reach it in 1900; it was named for Morris K. Jesup, a merchant-banker who financed polar expeditions.

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(born Feb. 4, 1842, Copenhagen, Den.—died Feb. 19, 1927, Copenhagen) Danish critic and scholar. His published lectures at the University of Copenhagen, Main Currents in 19th-Century Thought, 6 vol. (1872–90), catalyzed the breakthrough from Romanticism to realism in Danish literature. His calls for writers to work in the service of progressive ideas and the reform of modern society, along with his championing of such writers as Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, earned strong conservative opposition but exerted enormous influence throughout Scandinavia. His other critical works include Men of the Modern Breakthrough (1883) and Danish Poets (1877).

Learn more about Brandes, Georg (Morris Cohen) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 1, 1909, Phoenix, Airz., U.S.—died May 29, 1998, Paradise Valley, Ariz.) U.S. senator. He headed the family department-store business from 1937, and during World War II he was a U.S. Air Force pilot (1941–45). A Republican, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952, and he quickly established himself as a strong conservative, calling for a harsh diplomatic stance toward the Soviet Union, opposing arms-control negotiations with that country, and accusing the Democrats of creating a quasi-socialist state at home. In 1964 he won the Republican nomination for president but lost the election to Democratic Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson largely because of popular fears that Goldwater would provoke a nuclear war with the Soviets. Returning to the Senate (1969–87), he helped persuade Richard Nixon to resign in 1974. Goldwater moderated many of his views in later years, and he became a symbol of high-minded conservatism.

Learn more about Goldwater, Barry M(orris) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Morris may refer to:

People

• Morris (surname), a common family name (and a list of people with the name)
• Morris (comics) (1923-2001), Belgian cartoonist, creator of Lucky Luke
• Morris, one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway, Ireland

Places

Canada

• Morris, ManitobaUnited States
• Morris, Alabama
• Morris, Connecticut
• Morris, Georgia
• Morris, Illinois
• Morris, Indiana
• Morris, Minnesota
• Morris (town), New York
• Morris (village), New York
• Morris, Oklahoma
• Morris, Wisconsin
• Morris County, New Jersey
• Morris Plains, New Jersey
• Morris Township, Pennsylvania

Other uses

• Morris College, a private liberal arts college in Sumter, South Carolina
• Morris (computer worm), one of the first computer worms distributed via the Internet
• Morris dance, a traditional English dance form
• Morris Motor Company, a former British car manufacturer
• Morris the Cat, mascot of 9Lives brand cat food
• Nine Men's Morris, a board game

See also

• Morriston
• Morristown
• Morrisville
• Mount Morris