---

< BACK John Jay

Index of Related Information Edmond Burke John Dickinson George III Patrick Henry John Jay Robert Livingston William G. Livingston Robert Carter Nicholas Lord North Edmund Pendleton Peyton Randolph -----Events and Things------ Congress Raleigh Tavern Prime Ministry of Lord North Gaspee Affair Sons of Liberty Committees of Correspondence French & Indian War Non-importation Agreements Boston Massacre Vice-Admiralty Courts Albany Convention A Tax Stamp A Proclamation by the King — 1775 Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions — 1765 Instructions for the Deputies First Virginia Constitution Virginia Declaration of Rights Stamp Act Congress — 1765 A Plan for the Union of GB & the Colonies Association — 1774 -----Laws and Resolutions----- Boston Non-importation Agreement Tea Act Sugar Act Currency Act Proclamation of 1763 Stamp Act Quartering Act of 1765 Declaratory Act Townshend Act Intolerable Acts Boston Port Act Administration of Justice Act Massachusetts Government Act Quartering Act of 1774 Quebec Act Declaration and Resolves

NEXT > William G. Livingston

Robert Livingston

Born:	1746
Birthplace:	New York, New York
Education:	Graduated King's College (now Columbia University). (Lawyer)
Work:	Member of Provincial Congress of New York, Continental Congress, 1776-1783; Chancellor of New York, 1783; Delegate to the New York ratifying Convention, 1788; Minister to the Court of Napoleon, 1801-(ca. 1805)
Died:	February 26, 1813

Robert Livingston was born in the city of New York in 1746. He was educated at King's (now Columbia) College, where he was graduated in 1764. He studied law under William Smith, chief justice of New York, and became an eminent Lawyer. Livingston became politically active in the era of the Stamp Act Revolt, and was probably (along with his brother, William), involved with the Sons of Liberty in New York.

In 1776, as a member of the Provincial congress of New York, he was selected to attend the Continental Congress. He was one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence but was recalled by his state before he could sign it.

Livingston was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Secretary of State) soon after the Articles of Confederation were adopted. He served that post until 1783, when he was appointed Chancellor of the State of New York. He was an advocate for the Federal Constitution, and served as a delegate to the New York convention held at Poughkeepsie in 1788, to ratify it. On the 30th of April, 1789, Livingston administered the presidential oath of office to George Washington.

In 1801, President Jefferson appointed Robert Livingston resident minister at the court of Napoleon. It was he who negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from the French. He was also a patron of Robert Fulton, who refined the steam engine. Chancellor Livingston died on the 26th of February, 1813, at the age of sixty six.

< BACK John Jay

Index of Related Information Edmond Burke John Dickinson George III Patrick Henry John Jay Robert Livingston William G. Livingston Robert Carter Nicholas Lord North Edmund Pendleton Peyton Randolph -----Events and Things------ Congress Raleigh Tavern Prime Ministry of Lord North Gaspee Affair Sons of Liberty Committees of Correspondence French & Indian War Non-importation Agreements Boston Massacre Vice-Admiralty Courts Albany Convention A Tax Stamp A Proclamation by the King — 1775 Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions — 1765 Instructions for the Deputies First Virginia Constitution Virginia Declaration of Rights Stamp Act Congress — 1765 A Plan for the Union of GB & the Colonies Association — 1774 -----Laws and Resolutions----- Boston Non-importation Agreement Tea Act Sugar Act Currency Act Proclamation of 1763 Stamp Act Quartering Act of 1765 Declaratory Act Townshend Revenue Act Intolerable Act Boston Port Act Administration of Justice Act Massachusetts Government Act Quartering Act of 1774 Quebec Act Declaration and Resolves

NEXT > William G. Livingston