Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Yates, Robert 1738-1801

Jurist; born in Schenectady, N. Y., Jan. 27, 1738; was admitted to the bar in 1760, and became eminent in his profession. During the controversies preceding the Revolutionary War he wrote several excellent essays upon the great topics of the time. He was a prominent member of the committee of safety at Albany; also chairman of the committee on military operations (1776-77), member of the Provincial Congress of New York, and of the convention that framed the first State constitution. He was judge of the Supreme Court of New York from 1777 to 1790, and chief-justice from 1790 to 1798. Judge Yates was a member of the convention that framed the national Constitution, but left the convention before its close and opposed the instrument then adopted. He kept notes of the debates while he was in the convention. He was one of the commissioners to treat with Massachusetts and Connecticut respecting boundaries and to settle difficulties between New York and Vermont. He died in Albany, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1801.