Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County.

[1] Morris was born on April 8, 1726, at his family's estate, Morrisania, presently part of Bronx County, in what was then the Province of New York.

His cousin by marriage was William Paterson (1745–1806), the governor of New Jersey and father-in-law of Stephen Van Rensselaer, the lieutenant governor of New York, who was the brother of Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer, mayor of Albany, New York.

His great-grandfather, Richard Morris (died 1672), immigrated to New York through Barbados after being part of Oliver Cromwell's army in the English Civil War of 1648.

Richard's brother, Colonel Lewis Morris, also of Barbados, came to Morrisania to help manage the estate owned by his infant nephew.

Morris was a Federalist presidential elector in the 1796 election and cast his votes for John Adams and Thomas Pinckney.

On May 1 of the same year, he was appointed to the first Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and served until his death,[1] when he was replaced by Simeon De Witt.

[8] They had ten children:[9] After the war, Morris had to rebuild the family estate, which had been looted and burned by the British when they occupied New York.

In 1790, he offered the land, now part of the South Bronx neighborhood of Morrisania, as the site of the U.S. capital.

Lewis Morris is portrayed by Ronald Kross in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and by Howard Caine in the 1972 film.