Levi Parsons Morton (May 16, 1824 – May 16, 1920) was the 22nd vice president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He also served as United States ambassador to France, as a United States representative from New York, and as the 31st governor of New York.
The son of a Congregational minister, Morton was born in Vermont and educated at public schools in Vermont and Massachusetts. He trained for a business career by clerking in stores and working in mercantile establishments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After relocating to New York City, Morton became a successful merchant, cotton broker, and investment banker.
Active in politics as a Republican, Morton was an ally of Roscoe Conkling. He was twice elected to the United States House of Representatives, and he served one full term, and one partial one (March 4, 1879 – March 21, 1881). In 1880, Republican presidential nominee James A. Garfield offered Morton the vice presidential nomination in an effort to win over Conkling loyalists who were disappointed that their choice for president, Ulysses S. Grant, had lost the Republican nomination to Garfield. Conkling advised Morton to decline, which he did. Garfield then offered the vice presidential nomination to another Conkling ally, Chester A. Arthur, who accepted.
After Garfield and Arthur were elected, Garfield nominated Morton to be Minister Plenipotentiary to France, and Morton served in Paris until 1885. In 1888, Morton was nominated for vice president on the Republican ticket with presidential nominee Benjamin Harrison; they were elected, and Morton served as vice president from 1889 to 1893. In 1894, Morton was the successful Republican nominee for governor of New York, and he served one term, 1895 to 1896. In retirement, Morton resided in New York City and Rhinebeck, New York. He died from pneumonia on his 96th birthday in 1920, and was buried at Rhinebeck Cemetery.
Morton was born in Shoreham, Vermont, on May 16, 1824, one of six children born to the Reverend Daniel Oliver Morton, a Congregational minister, and Lucretia Parsons. Morton was of entirely English ancestry, all of his immigrant ancestors came to North America from England during the Puritan migration to New England. His paternal ancestors included Captain Nathaniel Morton of Plymouth Colony. Morton was named for his mother's brother Reverend Levi Parsons (1792–1822), a clergyman who was also the first U.S. missionary to work in Palestine. His older brother, Daniel Oliver Morton, served as the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio, from 1849 to 1850. His younger sister, Mary Morton, was married to William F. Grinnell, and was the mother of William Morton Grinnell, who served as the Third Assistant Secretary of State while Morton was vice president.
Morton's family moved to Springfield, Vermont, in 1832, when his father became the minister of the Congregational church there. Rev. Morton headed the congregation during the construction of the brick colonial revival-style church on Main Street that is still in use. Levi Morton was considered by his Springfield peers to be a "leader in all affairs in which schoolboys usually engage." The Morton family later moved to Winchendon, Massachusetts, where Reverend Morton continued to serve as a church pastor. In 1838, Levi Morton graduated from the academy in Shoreham, Vermont.
Morton decided on a business career, and in 1838 he began work as a general store clerk in Enfield, Massachusetts. He taught school in Boscawen, New Hampshire, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in Hanover, New Hampshire, then moved to Boston to work in the Beebe & Co. importing business. He eventually settled in New York City, where he entered the dry goods business in partnership with George Blake Grinnell and became a successful cotton broker. He then established himself as one of the country's top investment bankers in a firm he founded, Morton, Bliss & Co., which was later reorganized as the Morton Trust Company.
During the American Civil War, Morton supported the Union. Unable to obtain cotton from the southern states because of the Union blockade, Morton suspended his cotton business for the duration of the conflict. After the war, Morton and his British partner, Sir John Rose, recovered their financial positions and improved their political fortunes by using their contacts to assist the United States and England to settle the Alabama Claims. When England agreed to pay a $15 million settlement (about $307 million in 2020), Morton's bank was chosen to facilitate payments to claimants in the United States.
In addition to operating Morton, Bliss & Co., Morton was active in several other businesses. These included the board of directors of the New York Viaduct Railway Company, Guaranty Trust Company, Washington Life Insurance Company, Home Insurance Company, and Equitable Life Assurance Society. In addition, he was an investor in numerous ventures, including the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific Railway, Virginia Iron, Coal & Coke Company, and Intercontinental Rubber Company. Morton also maintained a farm on his estate, where he raised prizewinning horses and cattle.
In 1909, Morton received an offer from J. P. Morgan to merge the Morton company with the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. He accepted, after which he retired from most business pursuits.
Active in politics as a Republican, in 1876, Morton was named finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. Also in 1876, Morton was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the 45th Congress. In recognition of his service to the party, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Morton as an honorary commissioner to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
Morton was involved in many civic and charitable causes. In 1883, he was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Opera. In 1886, he was appointed to the Hobart College board of trustees. He served for several years, including a term as chairman of the board. He also served on the board of trustees of the American Museum of Natural History.
Identified with the Stalwart faction of Republicans led by Roscoe Conkling, in 1878 Morton was elected to represent Manhattan in the 46th Congress. He was reelected to the 47th Congress in 1880, and served from March 4, 1879, until his resignation on March 21, 1881. During Morton's House tenure, he served as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. On the currency issue, which dominated discussions of U.S. economic policy for several decades, Morton consistently advocated for the gold standard.
The 1880 Republican National Convention was dominated by "Half-Breed" supporters of James G. Blaine and Stalwart supporters of Ulysses S. Grant for the presidential nomination. James A. Garfield, who was not affiliated with either faction, but was a friend of Blaine, won the nomination and attempted to win over Stalwarts by asking Morton to be his vice presidential running mate. Conkling, who had managed Grant's campaign, advised Morton to decline, which Morton did. Garfield's supporters then turned to Chester A. Arthur, a fellow Stalwart and close Conkling friend. Conkling also advised Arthur to decline, but Arthur accepted; Garfield and he were narrowly elected over their Democratic opponents.
During the 1880 campaign, Morton and other Stalwarts believed that Garfield had committed to appoint Morton as Secretary of the Treasury. After Garfield won, they were incensed when he claimed he had never made such a promise. As a consolation, Garfield offered Morton appointment as Secretary of the Navy. Morton initially accepted, but then declined after Conkling advised him to turn it down.
After Morton declined to join the cabinet, Garfield appointed him as Minister to France. Morton accepted, and served from 1881 to 1885, continuing in office after Garfield was assassinated and Arthur became president.
Morton was very popular in France. He helped commercial relations between the two countries run smoothly during his term, and in Paris on October 24, 1881, he placed the first rivet in the construction of the Statue of Liberty. After completion of the statue, he accepted it on behalf of the United States in a ceremony on July 4, 1884, when he signed an agreement with the Union Franco Americaine, the organization formed in France to finance the creation of the statue.