Robert R. Livingston
Another of the committee of five who were responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence (along with Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, and Sherman) Robert Livingston never signed the document, being away from Philadelphia at the time of signing. Livingston was a New York attorney and judge who served as the state’s Chancellor, its highest ranking judicial authority. In that role it was he who administered the oath of office to President George Washington in 1789. Livingston developed into an opponent of the Federalist Party as it emerged, and aligned himself with the Democratic-Republicans supporting Jefferson.
When Jefferson entered office as President he appointed Livingston as the United States Minister to France, then ruled under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. It was Livingston who negotiated the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. Napoleon was motivated by the need to fund his military as it became apparent that another war with England was imminent. When the United States offered to purchase the port of New Orleans in order to obtain access to the sea for its growing river cities of Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Louisville, Napoleon offered to sell the entire territory he had taken from Spain.
When Livingston heard Napoleon’s offer, which occurred just before the arrival of James Monroe in France, bearing the authority to offer $10 million for New Orleans alone, he and Monroe were concerned that the offer could be withdrawn before they could consult again with Washington. The American ministers accepted the offer quickly, exceeding both their authority and the amount budgeted for the purpose. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the acreage of the United States and eventually became fifteen states. Livingston returned from France the following year.
While in France Livingston had seen Robert Fulton’s experimental steamboat, and in New York Livingston and Fulton started America’s first scheduled steam ferry service. From this innovation came the steamboats which roamed America’s rivers and lakes in the antebellum age, moving people and goods to the cities which grew rapidly in the lands which had been purchased from the French for the equivalence of about three cents per acre. After his return from France Livingston retired to private life, though he maintained a steady correspondence with political leaders.
Like George Washington, who famously warned his countrymen about political parties, Livingston distrusted the party system which evolved in the United States, but found himself aligned with the Democratic Republicans. In this, as a New Yorker of considerable wealth, he was somewhat unusual. Livingston also doubted the constitutionality of the Louisiana Purchase he negotiated, at least initially, but defended Jefferson against the Federalists who claimed that the act exceeded the authority of the Executive Branch. Livingston died in 1813 at his home in Clermont, New York.