Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)
Robert R. Livingston ( born November 27, 1746 New York City; † February 26, 1813 in Clermont, New York ) was an American politician.
Life
He was the eldest son of Judge Robert Livingston (1718-1775) and his wife Margaret Beekman Livingston. He had nine siblings, all of whom were married and had their residence near the family seat in Clermont on the Hudson River.
Livingston was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York and a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence of the United States. Before the signature however, he was recalled by his state of New York. From 1781 to 1783 he served under the Articles of Confederation as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. There was at that time still no supreme federal court, he took in 1789 as chief judge of the State of New York George Washington during its first swearing the oath of office. In 1798 he ran for governor of New York. From 1801 to 1804 he was ambassador to France and negotiated there buying the French possession of Louisiana to the United States.
During his time in France he met Robert Fulton know. With him, he developed the first practical steamboat. Its home port was the estate in Clermont Livingston (New York). The first ride on the steamboat led up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. The journey for which a conventional sloop required almost a week, lasted just under 24 hours.
Livingston built a house south of Clermont, they ' Belvedere ' named for himself and his wife Mary Stevens Livingston. It was burned down in 1777 along with all Clermont by the British Army. In 1794 he built a new house, which he ' Arryl House ' called. It has been called the most spacious home in America and contained, among other things, a library with 4,000 volumes and - after his stay in France - even an orangery. He was a Freemason, 1784, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York and remained until 1801 in his office.
His brother Edward Livingston was later Secretary of State.
The Livingston County in Kentucky, the Livingston County, New York and the Livingston Parish in Louisiana are named after him.