Robert Livingston (1746–1813)

Robert R. Livingston
portrait by Gilbert Stuart
1st United States Secretary for Foreign Affairs
In office October 20, 1781 – June 4, 1783
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	John Jay
1st Chancellor of New York
In office 1777–1801
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	John Lansing, Jr.
United States Minister to France
In office 1801–1804
Preceded by	Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Succeeded by	John Armstrong, Jr.
Born	November 27, 1746(1746-11-27) New York City, New York British America
Died	February 26, 1813(1813-02-26) (aged 66) Clermont, New York United States
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary Stevens Livingston
Profession	Politician

Robert R(obert)^[1] Livingston (27 November 1746 – 26 February 1813) was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat from New York, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was often called "The Chancellor," after an early office he held.

[edit] Early life

Robert R. Livingston was the eldest son of Judge Robert Livingston (1718-1775) and Margaret Beekman Livingston. He had nine brothers and sisters, all of whom wed and made their homes on the Hudson River near the family seat at Clermont Manor. Livingston attended King's College, the predecessor to today's Columbia University.

He married Mary Stevens Livingston, daughter of Continental Congressman John Stevens, on 9 September 1770,^[2] and built a home for himself and his wife south of Clermont, called Belvedere, which was burned to the ground, along with Clermont, in 1777 by the British Army. In 1794, he built a new home called New Clermont, which was subsequently renamed Arryl House – a phonetic spelling of his initials, "RRL" – which was deemed "the most commodious home in America" and contained a library of four thousand volumes.

Of the five figures standing in the center of John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, Robert Livingston is depicted in the center of the Committee of Five presenting the draft Declaration to the Second Continental Congress. The five prominent figures depicted are, from left to right, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.

[edit] Political career

Livingston was appointed Recorder of New York City in October 1773, but soon identified himself with the anti-colonial Whig Party and was replaced a few months later with John Watts, Jr. He was a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, although he was recalled by his state before he could sign the final version of the document.

From 1777 to 1801, he was the first Chancellor of New York, then the highest judicial officer in the State. He became universally known as "The Chancellor", retaining the title as a nickname even after he left the office. Livingston was also U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1781 to 1783, under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, as Chancellor of New York, he administered the presidential oath of office to George Washington at Federal Hall in New York City, then the capital of the United States.

In 1789, Livingston joined the Jeffersonian Republicans (later known as the Democratic-Republicans), in opposition to his former colleagues John Jay and Alexander Hamilton who founded the Federalists. He formed an uneasy alliance with his previous rival George Clinton, along with Aaron Burr, then a political newcomer. He opposed the Jay Treaty and other Federalist initiatives.^[3]

In 1798, Livingston ran for Governor of New York on the Democratic-Republican ticket, but was defeated by Governor John Jay who was re-elected.

As U.S. Minister to France from 1801 to 1804, Livingston negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase agreement in 1803, Livingston made this memorable statement:

We have lived long but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...The United States take rank this day among the first powers of the world.^[4]

During his time as Minister to France, Livingston met Robert Fulton, with whom he developed the first viable steamboat, the North River Steamboat, whose home port was at the Livingston family home of Clermont Manor in the town of Clermont, New York. On her first voyage, she left New York City, stopped briefly at Clermont Manor, and continued on to Albany up the Hudson River, completing in just under 60 hours a journey which had previously taken nearly a week by sloop. In 1811, both Fulton and Livingston became members of the Erie Canal Commission.

Livingston was a Freemason, and in 1784, he was appointed the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York. He retained this title until 1801. The Grand Lodge's library in Manhattan bears his name. The Bible Livingston used to administer the oath of office to President Washington is owned by St. John’s Lodge No. 1, and is still used today when the Grand Master is sworn in, and, by request, when a President of the United States is sworn in.

After his death, Livingston was buried in Tivoli, New York.

[edit] Livingston commemorated

In 1904 the U.S. Post office issued a series of postage stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase along with the central figures involved in this historical transformation of the United States. The engraved image of Livingston is taken from a Gilbert Stuart (1783-1872) oil painting of 1794.^[5]

Robert Livingston Issue of 1904

Map of Louisiana Purchase Issue of 1904

Livingston County, Kentucky and Livingston County, New York are named for him.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Robert Livingston (1746–1813) at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v • d • e United States Ambassadors to France Envoys Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, Silas Deane (substituted by John Adams in 1778) 1776–1779 Ministers Plenipotentiary Franklin 1778–85 · Jefferson 1785–89 · Short 1790–92 · Morris 1792–94 · Monroe 1794–96 · Pinckney 1796–97 · Livingston 1801–04 · Armstrong 1804–10 · Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811 Barlow 1811–12 · Crawford 1813–15 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Gallatin 1816–23 · Brown 1824–29 · Rives 1829–32 · Harris (chargé d'affaires) 1833 · Livingston 1833–35 · Barton (chargé d'affaires) 1835 · Cass 1836–42 · King 1844–46 · Rush 1847–49 · Rives 1849–53 · Mason 1853–59 · Faulkner 1860–61 · Dayton 1861–64 · Bigelow 1865–66 · Dix 1866–69 · Washburne 1869–77 · Noyes 1877–81 · Morton 1881–85 · McLane 1885–89 · Reid 1889–92 · Coolidge 1892–93 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Eustis 1893–97 · Porter 1897–05 · McCormick 1905–07 · White 1907–09 · Bacon 1909–12 · Herrick 1912–14 · Sharp 1914–1919 · Wallace 1919–21 · Herrick 1921–29 · Edge 1929–33 · Straus 1933–36 · Bullitt 1936–40 · Leahy 1941–42 · Tuck (chargé d'affaires) 1942 · Caffery 1944–49 · Bruce 1949–52 · Dunn 1952–53 · Dillon 1953–57 · Houghton 1957–61 · Gavin 1961–62 · Bohlen 1962–68 · Shriver 1968–70 · Watson 1970–72 · Irwin 1973–74 · Rush 1974–77 · Hartman 1977–81 · Galbraith 1981–85 · Rodgers 1985–89 · Curley 1989–93 · Harriman 1993–97 · Rohatyn 1997–2000 · Leach 2001–05 · Stapleton 2005–09 · Rivkin 2009–

v • d • e United States Secretary of State Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1781-1789 R. Livingston • Jay Secretary of State 1789-Pres. Jefferson • Randolph • Pickering • J. Marshall • Madison • Smith • Monroe • Adams • Clay • Van Buren • E. Livingston • McLane • Forsyth • Webster • Upshur • Calhoun • Buchanan • Clayton • Webster • Everett • Marcy • Cass • Black • Seward • Washburne • Fish • Evarts • Blaine • Frelinghuysen • Bayard • Blaine • Foster • Gresham • Olney • Sherman • Day • Hay • Root • Bacon • Knox • Bryan • Lansing • Colby • Hughes • Kellogg • Stimson • Hull • Stettinius • Byrnes • G Marshall • Acheson • Dulles • Herter • Rusk • Rogers • Kissinger • Vance • Muskie • Haig • Shultz • Baker • Eagleburger • Christopher • Albright • Powell • Rice • Clinton