He attended the common schools at Westbrook Academy and learned the trade of tanning from his father.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1882, serving four two-year terms before declining another, announcing instead his retirement from politics.

Nevertheless, at the urging of his friends, he accepted the nomination for governor of Kansas in 1894 and served one term, being defeated in 1896.

In 1894, The Advocate newspaper exposed several questionable land deals that Morrill orchestrated in connection with the Denver City railroad company.

[1] Morrill died March 14, 1909, in San Antonio, Texas, and is buried in Hiawatha's Mount Hope Cemetery.