Known for

• ​1st Chancellor of New York (1777-1801)

• 1st United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1781-1783)

• 7th United States Minister to France (1801-1804)

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During 1776

• Delegate for New York

• Age: 30

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Background

• Born: 1746 on Hudson River, New York

  • ​Eldest son of Judge Robert Livingston and Margaret (née Beekman) Livingston, uniting two wealthy Hudson River Valley families

• Education: King's College

• Spouse: Mary Stevens​ (m. 1770)

• ​Children: 2

• Slaveowning

  • In 1790, he owned at least 15 enslaved people

  • Of emancipated slaves, Livingston wrote they could not “be deprived of those essential rights without shocking the principle of equal liberty,” adding, “Rendering power permanent and hereditary in the hands of persons who deduce their origins from white ancestors only” would establish a “malignant … aristocracy.”

  • In his September 1796 will, he stipulated that all slaves over thirty years old would be freed and those who were younger could be freed under certain circumstances

  • By 1810 he owned at least 5 slaves

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Personal beliefs

• Politics: Patriot/Whig

  • Part of the Committee of Five

  • Couldn't vote for independence on July 1-2 because his state hadn't given permission to do so, but he very much personally supported the motion

  • Did not sign the final Declaration of Independence in August because he had been recalled by New York state; sent his cousin, Philip Livingston, instead

• Religion: Episcopalian​

  • ​The Episcopalian doctrine with the Eucharist is called "real presence", which says that Christ is well and truly present in the physical elements of the Eucharist, although the form that takes is unknowable to mankind.