Morgan Lewis (16 October 1754-7 April 1844) was the Democratic-Republican Governor of New York from 1 July 1804 to 30 June 1807, succeeding George Clinton and preceding Daniel D. Tompkins.
Biography[]
Morgan Lewis was born in New York City, New York in 1754, the son of Declaration of Independence signer Francis Lewis. He was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and he served in the Continental Army in Canada and at Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War. He became a lawyer in Albany in 1783 and served in the State Assembly in 1789 and 1792, in the State Senate from 1811 to 1814, as New York Attorney General from 1791 to 1801, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1801 to 1804, and as Governor from 1804 to 1807, serving as a Democratic-Republican. Lewis defeated Aaron Burr in the 1804 gubernatorial election and split the New York Democratic-Republicans into factions, leading a faction of Old Republicans (backed by the Federalists) against Clinton's faction. During his term, the United States Military Academy at West Point was established, he restructured the state's militia system, and he sanctioned educational improvements, but he was defeated for re-election by future Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins. He proceeded to serve in the State Senate from 1811 to 1814, while also sreving as a US Army Major-General and commanding Upstate New York during the War of 1812. In 1828, Lewis served as a Jacksonian presidential elector, and he served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York from 1830 to 1843, dying in New York City a year later.