The recent rediscovery of the
hand written first draft of the 1775 “Address to the Inhabitants of Great
Britain” by Emilie Gruchow at the Morris-Jumel Mansion presents the perfect
opportunity to reexamine the accomplishments of a nearly forgotten founding father. The sometimes inflammatory and aggressive
letter that also appeals for reconciliation has long been attributed to Richard
Henry Lee because of its tone. Analysis
of the hand writing of the draft revealed the true author to be Robert R.
Livingston, known to history as the Chancellor.
Livingston is often portrayed
as a minor background character during the Revolution and early republic,
despite the many prominent and important posts he had. It was once said of the Chancellor that he
had a knack for showing up where history was being made, which conjures the
image of an eighteenth-century Forrest Gump, stumbling from one historic event
to another without having any real role in them. Perhaps the best example of this was the
musical “1776.” When the committee is
chosen to write what would become the Declaration of Independence, Livingston
sings his way out of Philadelphia claiming he has to celebrate the birth of his
son. Ignoring the fact that the real
Chancellor never had a son, the simple fact is the Chancellor stayed in
Philadelphia until much after the Declaration was written.
Some background first: Robert R. Livingston was born in 1746, the
son of Judge Robert R. Livingston. The
Judge was an early supporter of the American cause, representing New York at
the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 and authoring an appeal to the House of Lords to
end the burdensome taxes they were putting upon the colonies. The elder Livingston would also be the only
crown appointed Supreme Court justice to side with the colonies when war broke
out. The Chancellor also had a colonial
bent as demonstrated by the oration he gave in 1765 from King’s College (now
Columbia University), entitled “On Liberty.”
By
a 1775 Livingston was
successful lawyer in his own right, practicing law with his friend and
future
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay.
He had briefly served as Recorder of the city of New York but was
quickly replaced by someone friendlier to the crown. He was chosen to
represent New York at the
Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia.
Some people encouraged him to decline the position as he had much to
lose, not the least of which was his life, if the situation
deteriorated. However he made his feelings quite clear to
his father-in-law John Stevens, himself a representative to the
Congress, in a
letter dated April 23, 1775; “Some cautious persons w[ill] advise me to
decline but I am resolved to stand or fall with my country.”[i]
On June 3, 1775 the Continental
Congress voted to create letters to the various parts of the British Empire to
explain the situation and make a plea for reconciliation. Blood had been shed at Lexington and Concord
and Fort Ticonderoga was in the possession of Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen,
but it was hoped, by most that the colonies could remain a part of the British
Empire. The letter to George III would
go down in history as the “Olive Branch Petition.” Livingston, Richard Henry Lee and Edward
Pendleton were chosen to craft a letter to the people of Great Britain.
Livingston’s letter makes it clear that, this is a “last”
appeal for peace. That Parliament has
betrayed them, “their object is the reduction of these Colonies to Slavery and
Ruin.” That they have no choice but to
fight, “On the Sword therefore, we are compelled to rely for Protection.” But he also manages to leave the door
slightly ajar for peace, Reconciliation with you on Constitutional Principles.”
Before the letter was approved by Congress, with some moderation to its initial tone, on July 8, the battle of
Bunker Hill showed how tenacious both sides could be in carrying out the
war. Ultimately the George refused to
even read the “Olive Branch Petition” and the “Address to the Inhabitants of
Great Britain” went largely unread in England.
The King issued his “Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion andSedition” and war was unavoidable.
Livingston’s writing did attract some attention in the colonies though
when it was published in a pamphlet, unfortunately without his name
attached. In a letter to William
Bradford, James Madison praised the address by comparing it favorably to the
works of Tully (the anglicanized name of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Greek
writer).
Later that year Livingston was
sent as a member of a three person committee to consult with General Philip
Schuyler as to how the war in Canada progressed. They made it as far as Fort Ticonderoga
before winter forced them to stop heading north.
When he returned to
Philadelphia in May of 1776, he was a different man than he had been in
1775. His father and grandfather had
both passed away leaving him not only in control of all of the Clermont land
but also the defacto head of the Livingston family. In June when the Congress took up the debate
of independence, Livingston took a moderate stance. Perhaps he still clung to a hope for
reconciliation or perhaps he feared that declaring independence would lead to a
more determined British war effort, which would undoubtedly lead to an attack on
the Hudson River valley.
Whatever the case may be when
it came time to choose a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Roger Sherman were joined
by the committee’s youngest member, 29 year old Robert Livingston of New York.
Here is where the widespread
“understanding” of the Declaration and even many historians do a great
disservice to Robert. Many claim that
Livingston took no part in the Declaration, that he was only selected to sit on
the committee so that the name of a large New York land owner would be
associated with the document. But, with
the discovery of the document at the Morris-Jumel House it seems apparent that
Livingston was likely chosen because he was a respected writer at that point, and
drafting a document that would serve as the Revolution’s press release to the
world would require the best writers that the congress had. Thomas Jefferson
did create the first draft of the Declaration, after the Committee had met. He then took it to John Adams and Benjamin
Franklin for revisions. It then went
before the full committee including Livingston for review. What contributions the various members made
during this review is not known. Perhaps
notes from this session will someday be found in another dusty attic. But until then we can take the following into
account. According to scholar (and
former Clermont curator) Travis Bowman, the Declaration of Independence bears a
certain resemblance to Dutch political documents. The only member of the committee that
understood the Dutch language was Robert Livingston.
Though he was present for the
Declaration presentation to congress, he did not sign the document. While Livingston and the other New York
delegates expressed their support for the document they did not have orders
from New York’s government to vote for independence. Unwilling to act without orders they
abstained from the vote. However
Livingston was unable to sit idly by. He
headed back to New York to try to get orders for the delegation in Philadelphia
on how to vote. Unfortunately for his
legend, New York voted for independence before he arrived to argue for it. Thus he is not remembered either as a signer or
for pushing Independence in New York. He
would spend most of the rest of the year of 1776 working on state matters,
including planning the defense of the Hudson River and “riding about the
Country in counteracting the Schemes of Tories”[ii]. Although Livingston never held a commission
in the Continental Army, the vast amount of correspondence between him and
George Washington is indicative of how respected his opinions were on military
matters. The chain that blocked British
vessels from coming up the Hudson was in large part a Livingston creation. After the war Livingston would be honored as
an honorary member of the Society of Cincinnati, a group made up of officers of
the Continental Army.
In 1777 Livingston’s writing
ability was put to good use once again as he was one of the primary authors of
the New York State constitution. It was
under that document that he was made Chancellor of the State of New York,
essentially the highest judge in the land.
He was uncomfortable with the populist turn the government quickly took,
but it was better than life under the British for him. Livingston and the other wealthy, landed
patriots supported Philip Schuyler for first governor of the state, but George
Clinton was elected on the vote of the common people.
This year also saw a certain recognition of
his contributions to the rebellion. In
October of 1777 a British armada sailed up the Hudson as part of a three
pronged attack designed to cut eastern New York and New England off from the rest
of the colonies. When the main British
army was defeated at Saratoga, the British decided to punish the notorious
rebel, Robert Livingston by spitefully burning his home and outbuildings.
In 1781 Livingston was made
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, supervising the diplomatic activities of men like
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin who were at then representing the young
country in the courts of Europe.
Although the final peace treaty with England was signed in September of
1783, about two months after Livingston resigned the post, the bulk of the
peace negotiations had occurred under his watch.
During the constitutional
ratification debates the Chancellor played a key role in the approval of the
new government in New York. Both John
Jay and Alexander Hamilton consulted with the Chancellor while writing what
became known as the Federalist papers.
In 1789, in his role as Chancellor, Livingston issued the oath of office
to newly elected president George Washington, turning to the crowd gathered in
New York City and shouting “Long live George Washington, President of the
United States!”
Livingston’s final political
achievement came not in the United States but in France. Sent to Paris as minister to France during
the Jefferson administration, Livingston was largely responsible for the
negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase.
With communications between Livingston and America taking months at a
time, Livingston had to rely on his wits and diplomatic skill to complete the
purchase. He was joined by James Monroe
to help complete the deal, which doubled the size of the country at the time.
The purchase was also
Livingston’s political undoing. When he
tried to claim sole credit for the purchase by changing the dates on some of
the related documents he was found out.
A minor scandal ensued and he never held another political office.
Even then, he was not done
contributing to the country. While in
France he had met an inventor by the name of Robert Fulton who rekindled a
passion for steamboats that Livingston had held since the 1790’s. Upon returning to America they combined
forces and in 1807 the first practical steamboat in the world roared and smoked
its way up the Hudson River, being sure to stop at Clermont. He also contributed to the agricultural
economy of the country with the merino sheep that he brought back from France
with him. The wool from his flocks was
used in mills to create the first broadcloth woven in America. His treatise on sheep was considered a
masterpiece of the time, earning the praise of another tinkerer of the time,
Thomas Jefferson. He also founded the
American Academy of Fine Arts and was a trustee of the New York Society
Library.
Bad timing and a bit of an
overreach combined to bury some of the achievements of Robert Livingston in the
annals of history. However that alone
would not be enough to wipe the Chancellor from history as thoroughly as he has
been. When the trends in the telling of
history are added to that, Livingston vanishes.
Shortly after the war ended a populist version of the Revolution came
about. This is the version where morally
pure farmer/ soldiers rose up to cast off the corrupt and evil yoke of the
English king, led by the simple farmer, George Washington. This was the era of when the founding fathers
were seen as self-made men. Where
Washington, Adams and Jefferson could all be massaged into fitting that mold,
Livingston could never be anything other than the son of an extremely wealthy
man who inherited a fortune and vast land holdings.
Robert Livingston only became
less well-received in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century
as the telling of history took on a more socialist leaning. The pedestals that the populist historians
had put the founding fathers on where kicked away. Dirty laundry was aired, and the wealthy
became the enemies of the common people.
In this telling Livingston was dismissed as entitled and with nothing to
offer. It is almost ironic that
Livingston most enduring public recognition of his life’s work came during this
time. In 1875 New York placed a statue
of the Chancellor in the United States Capital as part of the Statuary Hall
collection, one of the two statues New York gave to the people of the United
States.
In truth
Livingston’s role in history is much greater than he is often credited
with. He contributed to almost all
aspects of this country’s founding and growth.
It is something of an injustice that his name is not known to most
Americans, among the pantheon of other founding fathers, which is ironic since
in life he moved among them a respected figure.
[i]
Robert R. Livingston to John Stevens, April 23, 1775
[ii]
Edward Rutledge to Robert R. Livingston, October 2, 1776
The expedition does highlight the
importance of gunpowder in the colonies at this time. Prior to The French and Indian War there were
several mills producing gunpowder in British North America but after the war
most were closed or abandoned until there was only one mill producing gunpowder
in the colonies. In 1774 King George III
made it illegal to import gunpowder to his troublesome colonies. So gunpowder became even more valuable as the
colonists were looking to stock up at the same time the British were trying to
keep it out of their hands.
The gunpowder produced at the
Judge’s powder mill was very important for the early war effort. Livingston sold powder to Tryon County
for the defense of the frontier. He also
sold powder to New York
to be used to defend against attacks by Native Americans. Perhaps the biggest order went to Fort Ticonderoga,
where General Philip Schuyler was planning the invasion of Canada which
would eventually be taken over by the Judge’s son-in-law General Richard
Montgomery. 
The mill was so important that John
Jay, Robert Treat Paine and the New York Congress all encouraged the Chancellor
to rebuild the mill, as his father had planned to do, as quickly as possible in
letters which also offered their condolences for his passing. Of course the Chancellor was too busy to
focus on that project, however his brother John took over and had the mill
rebuilt by February 1776.
