Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/482

 LIVINGSTON

LIVINGSTON

Rev. Arthur Browne of Portsmouth. In 1764 he removed to Londonderry, and represented the town in the provincial assembly, 1768-70, mean- while, in 1769, returning to Portsmouth, having been appointed advocate in the court of admi- ralty and king's attorney-general in New Hamp- shire, which offices he held until 1774. He re- turned to Londonderry in 1774, and removed to New Holderness in 1775, liaving become by pur- chase the principal proprietor of the town. He was elected attorney-general by the people in 1776, and in November, 1779, was sent by the general court as agent to the Continental con- gress, to support the claim of the state to the New Hampshire grants. In 1780 he was made a delegate to the Continental congress and served until 1782, when he was appointed chief justice of the superior court. He was again a delegate to congress, 1785-86; was a delegate to the state convention which met in February, 1788, to ratify the Federal constitution, and resigned his position as chief justice, in 1790. He was a re- presentative in the 1st congress, 1789-91, and was re-elected to the 2d congress, but was transferred in 1791 to the U.S. senate, in which body he served by re-election until June 12, 1801, when he resigned on account of ill liealth. He was presi- dent of the state constitutional convention of 1791. Dartmouth college conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1792. He died in Holderness, N.H., May 18, 1803.

LIVINGSTON, Edward, statesman, was born in Clermont, N.Y., May 26.1764; son of Robert R. and Margaret (Beekman) Livingston, and grandson of Col. Henry and Janet (Livingston) Beekman. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B. 17- 81, A.M., 1784; stud- ied law with Jolm Lansing in Albany, N.Y., and with his brother, Robert R. Livingston, in New York city, and was admitted to the bar in 1785. He was a representative from New York in the 4th, 5th and 6th con- gresses. 1795-1801, when he opposed the administration of President Washing- ton, and instigated the investigation and proposed the resolution calling upon the President for a copy of the instructions given to John Jay in ref- ence to the treaty with Great Britain. The reso- lution was adopted in the House by a vote of 62 to 37, but the copy of the instructions was with-

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held by the President on the advice of his cabinet. In the fourth presidential election when the tie vote between Jefferson and Burr threw the elec- tion in the House, he voted for Jefferson, and when his term expired as representative in con- gress, March 3, 1801, he was selected by President Jefferson as U.S. attorney for the district of New York, and Governor Clinton in August, ISOl, made him mayor of New Yoi'k city. In 1803 he laid the corner stone of the city hall and during the same year he rendered conspicuous service in the yellow fever epidemic. In his visits to the sufferers he conti'acted the disease, and after his recovery found that his affairs had been so badly conducted by his business agent as to cause a de- ficit of $43,666.21, for which he was respon- sible to the government. He resigned both his offices, confessed judgment to the amount of $100,000 and gave up his property to cover the loss. He left New York for New Orleans in De- cember, 1803, reaching that city in February, 1804, where he opened a law office and also en- gaged in land speculation, his fees being mostly paid in land. He prepared a new code of pro- cedure that was adopted by the legislature in 1805 and remained in force till 1825, when his re- vised code was adopted. He gained the ill-will (if President Madison by favoring the scheme of Burr and of Gen. James Wilkinson for the conquest of Mexico and by defending its projectors in the courts. He became the legal adviser of the Lafittes, said to be connected with smugglers, and when they gave timely notice of the designs of the British against New Orleans, he was the first to give credence to their report and his faith in their truthfulness wasshown by his entrusting liis wife and child to the care of Pierre Lafitte during the battle of New Orleans. He was the president of the committee of public defence, drew up the resolutions, and aroused the people of the state to a sense of their danger. He was the right hand of General Jackson in his prepara- tions for the attack by General Pakenliam; served on General Jackson's staff before and dur- ing the battle and drew up the address to the army. He was elected a representative in the Louisiana state legislature in 1820, and was a representative from the New Orleans district in the 18th, 19th and 20th congresses, 1823-29; and a U.S. senator from Louisiana from Dec. 7, 1829, till the close of the 21st congress, March 3, 1831, when he resigned to accept the portfolio of state in the cabinet of President Jackson, made vacant by the resignation of Martin Van Buren. The state papers of Jnckson's administration and the nullification proclamation of Dec. 10, 1832, were credited to Ids pen. He resigned from the cabi- net in 1833 to accept the mission to France, fiml while there he accomplished the settlement of the