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ROBERT LIVINGSTON (1654-1728) First Lord of Livingston Manor

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ROBERT LIVINGSTON (1654-1728) First Lord of Livingston Manor ROBERT LIVINGSTON (1654-1728) First Lord of Livingston Manor. Courtesy of Mrs. Herman Livingston of Oak Hill New York, and the Frick Art Reference Libraryj ROBERT LIVINGSTON (1654-1728), SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS, AND HIS PAPERS BY LAWRENCE H. LEDER N THE half-century from 1675 to 1725 two men, brothers-in- llaw, played key roles in Anglo-Iroquois relations. One of these was Peter Schuyler, the "Quider" of the Iroquois, who might well be designated the man of action; the other was Robert Living- ston, the subject of this sketch, who might well be designated the man of vision.' Born in Scotland in 1654, Robert Livingston was the youngest s.,ln of the Reverend John Livingstone, one of Scotland's most eminent Presbyterian divines. Outspoken in his opposition to Charles II's efforts to anglicize the Kirk of Scotland, the Reverend John Livingstone was exiled in 1663 by the king's ecclesiastical authorities. He fled to the more hospitable atmosphere of cosmo- politan Rotterdam where his wife and two youngest children, Robert and Janet, soon followed him. The resultant division of Robert's youth between Scotland and the Netherlands was a most fortunate occurrence. Not only did be obtain a sound training in the most advanced business community in the Old World, but he gained a mastery of the Dutch and English languages that was to prove invaluable in the New World. After his father's death in 1672, Robert determined to try his luck across the Atlantic. Going to the colony of New York by way of Scotland and Charlestown, Massachusetts, he arrived in Albany in the early months of 1675. That frontier outpost was an ideal location for a young man possessed of ability, good train- ' There is no adequate biography of Livingston. The two published sketches provide the basic outline of his life, but nteither have used the Livingston- Redmond MSS. deposited with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York (hereafer cited as L-R MSS.), and both are inadequate in their interpretations of his career. Edwin B. Livingston, The Livingstons of Li%4ngston Manor (New York: 1910); John A. Krout, "Behind the Coat of Arms: A Phase of Prestige in Colonial New York," New York History, 16 (January, 1935) : 45-52. The generalizations made about Livingston in this sketch are based upon the present author's study of the L-R MSS. and other relevant materials for the life of Livingston that he is writing. 6 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY ing, a fortunate parental reputation, and but little else. New York had just been restored to the English, and the Duke of York's proprietary agents in New York City could mnake good use of someone with Livingston's qualifications as an intermediary be- tween themselves and the Dutch burghers of Albany. The latter, in turn, appreciated someone who understood their desires and problems and could make them known to the English authorities. In this fortunate setting Livingston quickly moved up the ladder of success. His first official position was that of Secretary to the Colony (or Manor) of Rensselaerswyck which he received in 1675 from Domine Nicholas Van Rensselaer. 2 Included in its functions were the duties of Town Clerk of Albany, second most important urban community in New York. His great personal charm, at- tested by numerous contemporaries,- soon won him the hand of young Alida Schuyler, widow of Domine Van Rensselaer, thus allying him with the powerful Schuyler and Van Cortlandt clans and insuring his success as a merchant. By the mid-1680's Livingston's star was rising rapidly. With the approval of Governor Thomas Dongan he purchased two tracts of land, one of 2,000 and the other of 600 acres, on the eastern side of the Hudson River from the Mahicans. Then, in the vague manner typical of seventeenth century land grants in the New World, the obliging Governor converted the 2,600 acres into the 160,000 acre Manor of Livingston.4 Further, when Albany re- ceived its municipal charter in 1686, Livingston found himself named to the offices of Town Clerk, Clerk of the Peace, and Clerk of the Common Pleas. To insure a comfortable income for Liv- ingston, Governor Dongan soon thereafter added the posts of Sub- Collector of the Excise and Receiver of the Quitrents for Albany County to Livingston's accumulation of titles. 'Wheeler B. Melius and Frank H. Burnap, comps., Index to the Public Records of the Coanty of Albany, State of New York, i630-I894: Grantees (12 vols., Albany, 1908-1911), 7: 4588. ' Wentworth Greenhalgh (April 19, 1678) and Charles Wolley (March 22, 1678/9) to Livingston, L-R MSS. These provide just a few examples of Livingston's reputation for winning ways. 4 Dongan's patents of November 4, 1684, August 27, 1685, and July 22, 1686. Edmund B. O'Callaghan, ed., The Documentary History of the State of New York (4 vols., Albany, 1849-1850), 2:615-616, 620-621, 622-627 (hereafter cited as: Doc. Hist. N. Y.). Commissioners of Statutory Revision, The Colonial Laws of New York front the Year i664 to the Revolution (5 vols., Albany, 1894), I: 206. Dongan's Report, c. 1686. Edmund B. O'Callaghan, ed., Documents Rela- ROBERT LIVINGSTON 7 A ith this sound foundation of social position, business success, landed property, and local office, Livingston's horizons began to broaden. During Dongan's administration he took on the added task of victualling the troops stationed in New York, a function lhe performed on and off for the next twenty years. Not only did be become involved through this in the whole question of the de- fense of the Colony against the French in Canada, but he became deeply enmeshed in the Colony's finances. For a short time, under the aegis of the Earl of Bellomont, he became a member of the Governor's Council, and during the administrations of Governors Robert Hunter and William Burnet, he became a member of the New York Assembly and Speaker of that body, holding the latter post until illness forced his semi-retirement from public life in 1725. The reader must not imagine, however, that Livingston's career followed a smooth path ever upwards. It was far from that, and its direction was rarely as clearly delineated as this sketch might seem to indicate. The greatest stumbling block in Livingston's path lay in his own personality. Coupled with his great personal charm, consciously exuded whenever it was to his advantage, was an unflagging righteousness regarding the obligations of his debtors to himself. (Su(' -ighteousness, however, did not extend to Livingston's obligation .o his creditors.) At one time or another Livingston became embroiled in bitter clashes with almost every governor of New York. These altercations always centered about financial matters, for this was a period (until 1717) when the government was dependent upon the credit of private individuals, and Livingston was usually in the forefront of its creditors. On two occasions his inability to achieve amicable financial settlements with the local authorities necessitated voyages to Eng- land where he placed his case before the Crown. On the first of these (1695-1696) he was nearly shipwrecked; on the second (1703-1706) he was almost captured by a French privateer within sight of Bristol.6 A third voyage, in the period 1711-1715, was averted solely through the shrewd political bargaining of Governor Robert Hunter. When the Governor found himself unable to repay tive to the Colonial History of the State of New York (11 vols., Albany, 1856-1861), 3: 401 (hereafter cited as: Doc. Rel. Col. Hist.). eLawrence H. Leder, "Robert Livingston's Voyage to England, 1695," New York History, 36 (January 1955): 16-38. Robert Livingston to Board of Trade, July 9, 1703, L-R MSS. 8 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY Livingston's advances for the subsistence of the Palatine refugees settled in New York to produce naval stores, he offered instead a new patent for the Manor of Livingston which not only con- firmed Livingston's title, but also gave him a seat in the Assembly, a "pocket-borough."" Later, Livingston, through his own efforts in that body, did obtain a sizable cash settlement,8 but in the process he became one of the key political lieutenants of Governors Hunter and Burnet. Of all the governmental posts held by Livingston, one of the most interesting was that of Secretary for Indian Affairs. Such a position had never existed prior to 1696, and its duties, never legally and fully defined, had always been performed by the Sec- retary of Rensselaerswyck and, after 1686, by the Town Clerk of Albany. During his first sojourn in England, Livingston decided to take advantage of the naivete of the Lords of Trade and the Privy Council concerning intra-colonial administration to gain for himself an extra title and another salary. He convinced them that the Indian affairs aspect of the Town Clerk's office was so burdensome and time-consuming that a separate position should be established to cope with it. Livingston, however, was to hold both the clerkship and the secretarythico! A royal patent from William III was duly forthcoming wh~. confirmed Livingston in his local offices in Albany and added that of Secretary for Indian Affairs at an annual salary of £100 sterling payable out of the revenue.9 When lie returned to New York, Livingston found himself a political outcast. The Council and Governor Benjamin Fletcher, whose reputation Livingston had done his best to tear to shreds before the Lords of Trade, did their utmost to block the financial settlements he had arranged in London.
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