Stateline executive editor Scott Greenberger joins the Chuck ToddCast to argue for a founder most Americans have never heard of. In The Forsaken Founder, Greenberger makes the case that Gouverneur Morris has as strong a claim to writing the Constitution as Madison does — he was the best writer among the founders, the one who drafted the final text, and the one who stood up most forcefully against slavery, calling the three-fifths clause a fatal flaw and warning the country could not remain half slave and half free. So why is he forgotten? Partly because he never sought the presidency, partly because he rubbed people the wrong way, and partly because the Virginians who won the presidency wrote the history. Greenberger also wrote a biography of Chester A. Arthur, and he and Todd get into the forgotten eras of American politics, the Garfield counterfactual, and why you never know you’re living through a political era until it’s over. 

Timeline:

00:00 Scott Greenberger joins The Chuck ToddCast

01:30 Why resurface Gouverneur Morris

04:00 As strong a claim to writing the Constitution as Madison

07:30 Why he rubbed people the wrong way — and was forgotten

11:45 “Half slavery and half free” and the three-fifths flaw

15:00 The Bronx estate, the voting franchise, and a man who never sought office

23:30 Morris in France, the king, and the Reign of Terror

27:30 Feuding with Madison over the War of 1812

31:15 Laying out the city of New York

34:15 Garfield, Arthur, and the eras history forgets

42:30 The what-ifs, and where Trump may land historically

47:30 Stateline, the death of local news, and AI in the newsroom