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