Livingston, Edward

Submitted by Beryl Browning

Livingston, Edward, lawyer, statesman and diplomat, was born at Clermont, Columbia county, N.Y., May 26, 1764, a younger brother of Robert R. Livingston (q.v.). He was graduated at Princeton in 1781, then read law, and in 1785 began. practice in New York city. He was in Congress from 1795 to 1801, when he was appointed U. S. district attorney for the district of New York by President Jefferson, and subsequently he was elected mayor of New York city.

In 1803, through the dishonesty of a clerk, Mr. Livingston became a defaulter to the national government. He resigned his official position, made an assignment of his property, and removed to Louisiana, which had just then been purchased by the United States. Beginning life anew as a New Orleans lawyer, he soon became one of the prominent figures in the new territory. He was on the committee to petition Congress to repeal the bill dividing the territory in 1804; became a regent of the University of Orleans in 1805; the same year was one of the founders of Christ church Episcopal), of which he served as one of the first vestrymen; framed a code of procedure for the Territory of Orleans that was in force for twenty years; and established a lucrative private practice. Some lands which he received in payment of a fee were claimed by the city and he became involved in tedious and expensive litigation. (See Batture Affair.) This litigation, and an accusation by Gen. Wilkinson charging Mr. Livingston with complicity with the Burr conspiracy, caused an estrangement between him and President Jefferson, who attacked Livingston in a message to Congress on March 7, 1808, and also in a pamphlet, to which Mr. Livingston made a spirited reply. He was a member of the code commission of 1808; served on the committee of public defense in 1814; was an aide to Gen. Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and was honorably mentioned in Jackson's r6port. In 1820 he was elected to the Louisiana legislature and was one of the committee to prepare the address to Gov. Villere at the close of his term. In 1822 he was elected to the lower house of Congress and remained in that body until 1829, when he was elected to the senate. In connection with Moreau Lislet he prepared a civil code of Louisiana in 1823-24, and in 1826 was able to discharge his debt to the United States caused by the defalcation in 1803. In the spring of 1831 he succeeded Martin Van Buren as secretary of- state in the cabinet of President Jackson, and two years later was made minister to France. While in Paris he became a member of the Academy. Mr. Livingston died near Rhinebeck, N. Y., May 23, 1836, leaving an international reputation as a lawyer.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume II, p.80-81. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.