Livingston, Robert R.

LIVINGSTON, ROBERT R. (1746–1813). Statesman, diplomat. New York. Scion of the distinguished Livingston Family, Livingston was born in New York City on 27 November 1746. After graduating from King's College (now Columbia University) in 1765 he studied law, was admitted in 1770 to the bar, and for a short time was in practice together with his college classmate and relative by marriage, John Jay. In 1773 Governor William Tryon named him recorder of the city of New York, but two years later he lost this post because of his Patriot leanings. He immediately was elected to the Continental Congress and was a delegate during the periods 1775–1776, 1779–1781, and 1784–1785. He was on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, but although he felt that independence was both desirable and inevitable he did not think that the time had yet come. Accordingly, Livingston was one of the principal advocates of postponing the issue. He did not vote for the Declaration of Independence, and when the time for signing came he was absent. It should be pointed out, however, that New York did not decide until 9 July that its delegates should vote for independence, and Livingston had left for New York on the 15th of that month to sit in the newly elected state convention. He also served on a secret committee organizing the defense of the Hudson River and on New York's Committee of Safety. In 1777 he and John Jay worked to craft a conservative state constitution. The convention appointed Livingston the state's chancellor, or chief justice, a position he filled until 1801.

Even while holding these state offices, Livingston remained active in the Continental Congress, working hard and ably on many important committees. In August 1781 Congress elected Livingston secretary of the newly created Department of Foreign Affairs. An ardent nationalist, he supported the Constitution at the New York ratifying convention and administered the oath of office to President George Washington in 1789. Feeling that the new government failed to recognize his services with appropriate patronage, he changed sides and took many of his relatives with him into the Republican camp around 1791. He helped Aaron Burr defeat Philip Schuyler for the U.S. Senate, and disagreed with Alexander Hamilton's financial plans, particularly the matter of "Assumption." A leading opponent of Jay's Treaty, in 1795 he published, under the name of "Cato," his Examination of the Treaty. In 1801 he accepted Thomas Jefferson's nomination as minister to France, having previously declined to become Secretary of the Navy. Negotiating the Louisiana Purchase, was, in his view, the greatest accomplishment of his life. Resigning his ministerial post in the autumn of 1804, he retired to the family estate, which was known as "Clermont."

Livingston was the founding president of the American Academy of Fine Arts in 1801. He also played a vital role in the development of the steamboat. While in Paris he had given technical and financial aid that made the experiments of Robert Fulton possible. In 1807, Fulton's invention, the Clermont, made the journey from New York City to Albany, becoming the first practical steamboat. Livingston died at home on 26 February 1813.

SEE ALSO Assumption; Jay, John.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Livingston Papers. New York: New York Historical Society.

Dangerfield, George. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960.

                            revised by Michael Bellesiles