Signer of the
Declaration of Independence; born in
Albany, N. Y., Jan. 15, 1716; graduated at Yale College in 1737; became a prominent merchant in the
city of New York; was an alderman there from 1754 to 1758; and a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1759, in which he was one of the committee of correspondence with the colonial agent in
England,
Edmund Burke.
Livingston opposed the taxation schemes of Parliament, and was unseated by a Tory majority in 1769, when the controversy between
Great Britain and her colonies ran high.
He was a member of the first Congress (1774), and held a seat in that body until his death, when their session was held at
York, the
British having possession of
Philadelphia.
Mr. Livingston was associated with
Lee and
Jay in the preparation of the two state papers put forth by the first Congress, and was very active on the most important committees in Congress.
He founded the professorship of divinity at Yale College in 1746; was one of the founders of the New York Society Library; and also aided materially in the establishment of King's College, now Columbia University.
He patriotically sold a part of his property to sustain the public credit with its proceeds just before his death, in
York, Pa., June 12, 1778.
