LIVINGSTON, Robert R. (the initial R. having been assumed for purposes of distinc tion), American statesman, commonly known as "Chancellor Livingston" : b. New York, 27 Nov. 1746; d. Clermont, N. Y., 26 Feb. 1813. He was graduated from Columbia (then King's College) in 1765, was admitted to the bar in 1773, was for a brief period partner in legal practice with John Jay, in 1773-75 was recorder of New York city, lost this post through his revolutionary spirit, and in April 1775 was elected from Dutchess county to the New York State assembly. In 1776 he was sent by the assembly to the Continental Congress, where he was one of the committee of five appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence, which, however, he did not sign owing to his return to .enter the provincial convention. He took his seat on 8 July 1776, and was of the com mittee to draw up a State constitution. Under this instrument he became the first chancellor of New York (1777-1801). He resigned from the Continental Congress in 1777, but was again one of its members in 1779-81. He was secre tary for foreign affairs of the United States Confederation in 1781-83, in which post he con ducted with much success the business previ ously entrusted to the committee of secret cor respondence. As chancellor he administered the oath of office to George Washington on the latter's inauguration as first President of the United States (30 April 1789). In 1801-05 he was Minister to France, in which capacity he, with James Monroe as additional plenipoten tiary, concluded the treaty by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States for the sum of $15,000,000. He became the partner of Robert
Fulton (q.v.) in experiments toward the em ployment of steam-power in navigation; launched a boat on the Seine, but was not fully successful; and later continued the work with Fulton in the United States; where in September 1807 the Clermont made the trial trip from New York to Albany in 22 hours, the average rate of speed thus being five miles per hour. Liv ingston also introduced merino sheep into New York, made general the use of gypsum for fer tilizing purposes, was the principal founder (1801) of the New York Academy of Fine Arts and its first president, and was also for a time president of the New York Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts. He was styled by Franklin the "Cicero of America.° By act of Congress his statue was placed in the Capitol at Washington, as one of the two representa tive citizens of New York State, George Clinton being the other. He published