Gouverneur Morris was born in New York City on July 17, 1752. He was the son of Urian and Mary Morris, who were descended from Huguenot immigrants. His father was a prominent lawyer, member of the Continental Congress, and well-known public official. Morris received his formal education at Columbia College, where he graduated in 1773 at the age of 16
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He then studied law under John Jay at the University of New York. He was admitted to the bar in 1776 and began practicing law; he also engaged in business ventures. During this period, he was one of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Morris was elected to the Continental Congress in 1783 and served until 1787. On November 10, 1787, he married Elizabeth Schuyler (1758–1830). They had two daughters: Ann Eliza (1794-1879) and Catherine (1797–1827).
He became U.S. Minister to France in 1801 following the end of the War of 1812; this was his second diplomatic assignment after having served as U.S. Minister to Spain from 1795 to 1801.
During this time he visited Parisian salons and cultivated friendships with many French intellectuals including Denis Diderot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Jacques Rousseau's grandson Claude Adrien Helvétius, Charles lesueur de Sismondi, Johann Moritz von Goethe, Louis Henri de Bourbon duc d'Orléans (known as duc d'Orléans), Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville (Brissot), Pierre François Sauret de Beauharnais (also known as Beauharnais), Antoine Destutt de Tracy (Destutt), Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, François Marie Arouet Voltaire (Voltaire), Marquis Ignace Francois Guillaume Charles Gabriel du Plessy , Louis-Charles Montesquieu , François Balthasar Morellet , Jean Baptiste Say , Étienne Dumont , Alexis Piron , Jean Daniel Louvet du Vernois , Pierre Eugène Alexandre Augustin Cournot , François Félix Vicomte de Mirabeau , Baron Antoine Richepin du Coudray , Bernard Pierre Guadet de la Faye , Guillaume Étienne Guilla
