GOUVERNEUR MORRIS:Who was Gouverneur Morris? He was not a governor. “Perhaps his greatest interest for us lies in the fact that he was a shrewder, more far-seeing observer and recorder of contemporary men and events, both at home and abroad, than any other American or foreign statesman of his time. But aside from this he did much lasting work. He took a most prominent part in bringing about the independence of the colonies, and afterwards in welding them into a single powerful nation, whose greatness he both foresaw and foretold. He made the final draft of the United States Constitution; he first outlined our present system of national coinage ; he originated and got under way the plan for the Erie Canal; as minister to France he successfully performed the most difficult task ever allotted to an American representative at a foreign capital. With all his faults, there are few men of his generation to whom the country owes more than to Gouverneur Morris.

TR uses a phrase in another book “The Philosophy of History”. When reading or listening to history books written by TR you will come to understand how he was able to have such a clear vision of what political course of action was the best course. This book takes you back for a up close look at the founding of the country and the slavery issue among other political battles. It takes you to France during the red terror for a view of vigilante government. There is no doubt in my mind that when TR was dealing with incendiary labor agitators during his political career he remembered the Red Terror lessens that he wrote about in this book. If you look at a list of all the history books that TR wrote it is obvious that he believed that it was very important that future generations needed not to forget the "Philosophy of our own History.
 
Philosophy is defined as: a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. You need to define Philosophy of History as a science based upon observation. Because TR uses history, like a science experiment. He observes human political mistakes and successes. Then treats these observations as control groups. In this manner he was able to avoid what did not work in the past.