[1] Born in St. John's, the son of Edward Morris and Catherine Fitzgerald, he was educated at Saint Bonaventure's College and the University of Ottawa, was admitted to the bar in 1885 and went into practice with his brother Francis.

Morris was a counsel for the British government during the North American fisheries arbitration in 1910 receiving a knighthood in 1904.

He had a strained relationship with Whiteway's successor as Liberal leader, Sir Robert Bond, splitting with him[1] to form the Independent Party which he led from 1898 to 1900.

[2] His People's Party government enjoyed strong support from the dominion's Catholics but was largely opposed by Protestants.

As a result of a wartime crisis over conscription, and the decline of his popularity due to accusations of wartime profiteering and conflict of interest, Morris decided that it was necessary to have a government that had support from all denominations[2] and so he invited the opposition in the House of Assembly to join a National Government which was formed in 1917 to oversee the duration of the war.