Governor; born in
Albany, N. Y., Nov. 30, 1723; was an eminent member of the bar of both New York and
New Jersey.
With William
Smith he published the first
Digest of the colonial laws, in 1752.
For a while he published the
Independent Reflector.
Thoroughly educated at Yale College, he possessed many solid as well as brilliant attainments in law and literature, and was an elegant and facile writer.
Behind the mask of anonymity,
Mr. Livingston dealt heavy blows in favor of Presbyterianism, and against Episcopacy, in his weekly periodical, first published late in 1752.
In 1757 he published, in defence of
Governor Shirley, a
Review of the military operations in North America from 1753 to April 14, 1756, in a letter to a nobleman.
The following year he was elected a member of the New York Assembly.
Having purchased land in
Elizabethtown, N. J., he built a fine mansion there, which he called β
Liberty Hall,β and removed there in 1773.
He early espoused the cause of the oppressed colonies, and
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was a representative of
New Jersey in the first Continental Congress (1774). He was again a delegate to that body in 1775, but was soon called (June 5) to command the militia of
New Jersey, with the commission of brigadier-general.
After
William Franklin was deposed in 1776,
Livingston succeeded him as governor of
New Jersey, which post he retained until his death, conducting public affairs with wisdom and energy.
The
British called him βThe
Don Quixote of
New Jerseyβ (for he was tall and thin in person), and tried hard to catch him, but he always managed to escape.
Mr. Livingston was a delegate from
New Jersey in the convention which framed the national Constitution.
He was offered the position of minister to
Holland, but declined.
He died in
Elizabethtown, N. J., July 25, 1790.
