Robert Livingston’s college experience played an important role in the formation of his political beliefs and also for the future of the liberty movement in New York. Like many college students he became politically aware and active during this period. The friends he made at college shaped the very nature of the Revolution in New York.
Livingston entered King’s College, the forerunner to present day Columbia University in New York City, in 1761. The curriculum covered Greek, Latin, philosophy, natural science and public law. While his education undoubtedly served him well throughout his life, it was the acquaintances he made there that would truly shape the course of events to come.
John Jay, who became Livingston’s closest friend, was a year ahead of Livingston at King’s. In January 1775 Jay wrote to Livingston and described how he saw each of them when they met;
“It appeared to me that you had more vivacity. Bashfulness and Pride rendered me more Hard, both equally ambitious but pursuing it in different Roads. You flexible I pertinacious but equally sensible of Indignities, you less prone to sudden Resentment-both possessed of warm Passions, but you with more Self Possession, you formed for a citizen of the World I for a college or a Village, you fond of a large acquaintance, I careless of all but a few. You could forbid your countenance to tell tales, mine was a babler- You understood Men and Women early, I knew them not. You had talents and inclination for Intrigue, I had neither. Your mind (and body) received Pleasure from a variety of objects, mine from few. You was naturally easy of Access and in advances, I in neither.”[i]
As a young man Livingston was described as tall, slim, easy going, talented and energetic.[ii] In adulthood he was a large man who stood over six feet tall, making him imposing in both stature and intellect.
Three years later Gouverneur Morris, who would also become a lifelong friend of Livingston’s, entered King’s. Other notable men in King’s at this time were John Stevens, Livingston’s future brother in law and Egbert Benson of Red Hook, who would become a force in New York politics.
At his commencement from King’s in 1765 Livingston gave an address “On Liberty” to the assemblage. On May 30, 1765 the New York Gazette hailed his performance saying:
“In particular, Mr. Livingston, whose oration in praise of Liberty was received with general and extraordinary approbation, and did great honor to his judgement and abilities in the choice of subject, the justice and sublimity of his sentiments, the elegance of his style, and his graceful propriety of his pronunciation and gesture; and many of the audience pleased themselves with the hopes that the young orator may prove an able and zealous asserter and defender of the rights and liberties of his country, as well as an ornament to it.”[iii]
This appears to have been the first time Livingston spoke publicly on the issues and he seems to have handled himself quite well. The fact that he gave such a timely speech says a lot about the young man. The Sugar Act, The Stamp Act and the Quartering Act, passed by British legislators to force the colonies to pay more for their defense and other expenses following the French and Indian War caused tremendous resistance in the colonies. Groups like the Sons of Liberty sprung up to defend the colonists’ rights as British citizens. They viewed the new taxes as an attack on their liberty. To deliver a speech such as he did, Robert must have been deeply invested in current events of the day. Of course not all college students were as interested in the events of the day as Robert was. In stark contrast to Robert’s graduation oration, three years later, in 1768, Gouverneur Morris gave the college’s graduation oration entitled “Wit and Beauty”.[iv]
A few months later Robert’s father, Robert the Judge attended the Stamp Act Congress. The elder Livingston was opposed to the oppressive tax. Being wealthy and involved in the legal profession and having a nearly constant flow of land deals, all of which would have required stamped paper, meant that the tax would have hit him harder than most. However the Judge was opposed to violence as a means of protest. The Judge had predicted that enforcement of the Stamp Act would lead to civil war “with the destruction of all law and order in the colonies and ruin all men of property.”[v] In addition to The Declaration of Rights and Grievances, the Congress sent petitions to the various branches of the British government, one of which Robert the Judge was supposed to have drafted.
After graduating from King’s College Robert began his legal training by reading the law under his cousin William Livingston, who would go on to be the governor of New Jersey during the Revolution and William Smith, who would turn loyalist when independence approached. He stayed close to John Jay, who was also studying for the bar. Both young men worked as clerks for established lawyers in New York City. During the Stamp Act crisis there was a strike to protest the tax in New York that put a stop to all legal work in the colony. Livingston and Jay took the opportunity to tour New England, the hot bed of the liberty movement and certainly an enlightening trip for two young men as conscious of the political situation as Livingston and Jay.[vi] He and Jay were admitted into the bar in 1768, the only two lawyers admitted that year in New York.[vii]
Further helping to drive a wedge between the Livingstons and the British government around this time were riots in the north-eastern section of Livingston Manor where it connected with Rensselear Manor. In a town then known as Nobletown, many of the residents decided to stop paying their rents to the land lords after Massachusetts had granted them the land. They claimed the Livingston and Van Rensselaers did not own the land as Massachusetts’ charter granted it land all the way to the river. This led to riots and a gunfight between the rioters and a posse raised by the Livingstons that left three rioters and one member of the posse dead. The British army initially refused to help put down the rioters. Many believed it was a punishment for the Livingstons and the Van Rensselaers participating in the Stamp Act Congress.[viii]
Livingston was not without his youthful indiscretions at this time. Jay wrote to him on March 4, 1766;
“You have it seems been highly entertained of late, and by your account of the Matter have attained every Qualification necessary to form a Buck, and entitle you to the appellation of a Man of Pleasure. Forgive me if [I] grow serious upon this Subject. As I am sure you dont think me capable of Flattering your Foibles, or mean enough to applaud what I disapprove,…You are now in the Country, separated from Temptations, your Passions are reduced to their usual Calm, and your Spirits, like a silent Stream whose Woods defend it from the Winds that rage on Shoars more exposed to Storms, again unruffled flow and glide with Ease. Reason has resumed her Seat, you think cooly, and you reflect dispassionately.”[ix]
A few years later Livingston sent a letter to his grandfather, Robert of Clermont, asking for some spending money. Unfortunately, in what must have been an all too common occurrence at Clermont, the wrong Robert opened the letter. The Judge was a bit put out by his son’s frivolity, while Robert of Clermont seemed happy that his grandson was happy. Robert of Clermont wrote to his grandson:
“I recd yrs of the 6th March; but your good father opened it by mistake: consequently he knew you had apply’d to me, in pursuance to my orders, for a little money in case you should be straiten’d, wch I take in good part. Yr daddy was a little out of humour, alledging you was a little too lavish; but I told him you could not receive cash for law, till bills were taxt….I should immediately have enclosed you a 10lb bill, but he told me you would receive about £50 or £60 of his money, whereout you could deduct that amount; so I gave him the £10.”[x]
Another central component in the development of Livingston’s political thinking at this time was his social club. A group of young men, really barely more than boys, who met weekly at Fraunces Tavern for spirited discussions. In addition to Livingston and Jay members of the club included future patriots such as future member of the Continental Congress Gouverneur Morris, a future leader in New York State’s government Egbert Benson, Morgan Lewis, who would work as a secretary for Livingston during his time as Secretary for Foreign Affairs and also become Livingston’s brother in law, John and Henry Livingston of the Manor who would lead the Livingston Manor militia during the war, John Stevens, another future Continental Congressman and Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The club also included several future loyalists such as John Watts, John Hay, Peter Van Schaack and George and William Ludlow.[xi]
Livingston and Jay formed a brief but successful law partnership in New York City. They also proposed themselves to the colonial assembly as a sort of circuit judge, dividing the colony up between them, they would travel around in order to deal with an inadequacy in the legal system as they perceived it. The proposal was not adopted by the colony but it showed that both young men had aspirations beyond a simple law practice.[xii]
During the early 1770’s Livingston and Jay also became indispensable member of New York City society when they became the managers, along with John Reade of the dancing assemblies. These dances were held every two weeks during the fall and winter social season. The dances continued until the war broke out.[xiii] Years later, Livingston realized the importance of getting back to normal or perhaps he simply missed the fun of the dances. Livingston helped to revive New York’s social scene after the war was over. In December of 1783 Catherine W. Livingston wrote to John Jay and included a report on the dances in the city;
“The danceing Assembly met with great opposition, some from Religious, or others from Politicle motives opposed it, but the Loyal Managers, (Augustus Van Cortland and Daniel Ludlow) resigning, and expunging some of their rules appeased the populace and they have carryed them into execution. A private Ball at the Chancellors, another at Uncle P.V.B. Livingston’s in Compliment to his Excellency General Washington, (as he is quartered there) are all I have heard of.”[xiv]
In 1770 Robert married Mary Stevens, the daughter of John Stevens of New Jersey. Stevens was also a patriot and would represent New Jersey in the Continental Congress. Livingston affectionately referred to his wife as “Polly”. They had two daughters together. Mary accompanied Livingston to Philadelphia during his second stint in the Continental Congress and she and their daughters went to France with him in 1801. Beyond that little is known about the woman.
In 1773 Livingston was chosen by Governor William Tryon to become the Recorder of the City of New York. Robert was reluctant to take the position but accepted because Tryon was a valuable ally in his family’s constant political disagreements with the Delancey family. The dispute between the Livingstons and the Delanceys in pre-Revolution New York can fill its own volumes, but it boils down to the two wealthy families jockeying for first position in the colony. The Livingstons representing the landed gentry of the Hudson Valley and the Delanceys standing for the wealthy merchants of New York City. Their dispute would decide what class would rule the colony. Ultimately the dispute between the two families would play a role in deciding who they sided with when the Revolution began. At that point the Delancey family was closely associated with the colonial administration. They had managed to get a law passed that prevented judges from holding seats in the colonial assembly. This meant that Judge Robert Livingston could not take the seat in the colonial assembly to which he was repeatedly elected as long as held his judicial posts. Almost by default then, the Livingstons began to side with the Whigs, the Liberty Boys and ultimately the independence movement as the colonial government had become personally offensive to the family who saw the royal administration as responsible for the loss of their voice in the colonial assembly.
The Recorder sat on the city council, at times seeming to act as a deputy mayor. Livingston first sat with the council on November 25, 1773.[xv] Most of the matters handled during this time were relatively normal and benign despite the building tension; a committee to settle the line between the City of New York and the town of Harlem, advertising for lamp lighters and a committee to choose the landing areas for ferries. Livingston was ordered by the council to deliver letters to Governor William Tryon on two occasions. The first in response to the loss of the governor’s house and possessions to fire and the second when Tryon decided to leave government in early 1774. Livingston resigned the post on April 7, 1774, which was the very same day that Tryon sailed for England for an extended leave. Livingston’s resignation did not take the council by surprise as his replacement, John Watts Jr., a loyalist, was installed at the following weeks meeting on Tuesday April 12, 1774. To demonstrate the “Esteem and Regard” the Board held him with, they voted at his last meeting to “Compliment him with the freedom of this Corporation.”[xvi]
[i] John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, January 1, 1775 Morris, Richard B. John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary p 139
[ii] Brookhiser, Richard Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris-The Rake Who Wrote the Constitution Free Press, New York 2003, p 16, Stahr, Walter John Jay Hambledaon and London, New York 2005 p 12.
[iii] Quoted in Hunt, Charles Haven Life of Edward Livingston p 30
[iv] Mintz, Max W. Gouverneur Morris and the American Revolution University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1970 p 24
[v] Tiedman, Joseph Reluctant Revolutionaries p 46.
[vi] Johnson, Herbert Alan, John Jay: 1745-1821 University of the State of New York, Albany 1970, p 4, Stahr, John Jay p 26.
[vii] Stahr John Jay p 24.
[viii] Humphrey, Thomas J. Land and Liberty: Hudson Valley Riots in the Age of Revolution Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb 2004 p 53-54.
[ix] John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, March 4, 1766 Morris, Richard B. John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary p 79.
[x] Quoted in Hunt, Charles Haven Life of Edward Livingston p 19-20.
[xi] John Moore “List of Members of the Social Club” in Morris, Richard B. John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary p 112-113, Peter Van Schaack fled New York and his property was confiscated with the 1779 Confiscation Act. After the war a special act of the legislature allowed him to return and continue his work in the law. See McKito, Valerie H. From Loyalist to Loyal Citizen State University of New York Press, Albany 2015 p 128.
[xii] Stahr, John Jay p 25, Dangerfield Chancellor Robert R. Livingston p 48.
[xiii] Morris, Richard B. John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary p116.
[xiv] Catherine W. Livingston to John Jay December 30, 1783 in in Morris, Richard B. John Jay: Winning the Peace Unpublished Papers 1780-1784 Harper and Rowe, New York 1980 p 671.
[xv] Minutes of The Common Council of the City of New York: 1675-1776 Volume VII p. 457, Nelson, Paul David William Tryon and the Course of Empire The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1990 p 116.
[xvi] Minutes of The Common Council of the City of New York: 1675-1776 Volume VIII p. 23, Nelson William Tryon p 122.