Morrison, originally from Cabarrus County, North Carolina, enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, eventually graduating second in the class, behind future President James K.

[1] After graduating, Morrison entered the ministry before being appointed as president of Davidson.

Morrison taught mathematics and science courses at the college.

[2] After a year as president, a typhoid fever epidemic swept through the area, taking two of his children.

[1] Although he claimed to be a “Union man at heart,” Presbyterian pastor and Davidson College's first president “claimed ownership of multiple enslaved people who were forced to work on the college grounds, and would eventually become a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.”[4] The Morrison family arrived on campus with at least two enslaved people and kept at least three to work the grounds.