William Livingston (196)

Election date: 1768

Elected to the revived American Philosophical Society.


Portrait of William Livingston

William Livingston (30 November 1723–25 July 1790) was a lawyer and politician, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Albany, New York, Livingston decided not to follow the family path into a lucrative fur trading business and instead pursued the study of law. After graduating from Yale in 1741, Livingston joined other would-be lawyers by entering into an apprenticeship. His mentor, APS Member James Alexander, ended this arrangement after Livingston published criticisms of not only the apprenticeship system but also Alexander’s wife. Thereafter, Livingston trained under APS member William Smith, Sr. and was admitted to the bar in 1748. Livingston’s practice grew to become one of New York City’s most successful practices, a platform he used to champion reforms to the legal education system. Livingston entered the fray of New York politics, siding with the City’s Presbyterian-dominated Whig Party. Turning to the pen to launch political attacks, Livingston fought against the Anglican Church at home and the Church of England abroad. In 1772 he retired from his legal career and moved his family to Elizabethtown, New Jersey at his newly constructed country Estate, Liberty Hall. The maelstrom over separating from Great Britain soon swept aside Livingston’s plan for retirement. Livingston was elected to both the First and Second Continental Congresses and accepted (despite no military experiences) an appointment as New Jersey’s brigadier general of militia in 1775. He relinquished this position the following year when he was elected New Jersey’s first governor in 1776, a position he held through repeated reelection until he died. During the war, he used the position to surveil loyalists, efforts they repaid with repeated attempts against his life. In the years following the end of the war, Livingston remained active in national politics as well, supporting a strong federal government and playing a crucial role in New Jersey’s adoption of the Constitution. He died at Liberty Hall in 1790. (PI)



196.001
Member: William Livingston
☞ An address to His Excellency Sir Charles Hardy, Knt. Captain general and governor in chief of the province of New-York, and territories thereon depending in America, and vice-admiral of the same : by the author of a weekly paper, entitled, the Watch-tower.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: New York: [Printed by Hugh Gaine?], [1755]


196.002
Member: William Livingston
☞ An answer to a bill in the Chancery of New-Jersey, at the suit of John Earl of Stair, and others, commonly called Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New-Jersey, against Benjamin Bond, and others claiming under the original proprietors and associates of Elizabeth-Town to which is added; nothing either of the publications of the Council of Proprietors of East New-Jersey, or of the pretences of the rioters, and their seducers; except so far as the persons meant by rioters, pretend title against the parties to the above answer; but a great deal of the controversy, though much less of the history and constitution of New-Jersey, than the said bill.
Creator(s): Smith, William, 1728-1793. ((role unspecified))
Publication: New York: Printed and sold by James Parker, at the new printing-office, in Beaver-Street, 1752.
Subjects:New Jersey -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775. | Elizabeth (N.J.) -- History. | Public lands -- New Jersey. | Land tenure -- New Jersey.


196.003
Member: William Livingston
☞ An English grammar : calculated in conjunction with The syntactical atlas, to render the study of grammar easy and pleasing to the scholar.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: Middlebury, Vt: Printed by Francis Burnap, 1817.
Subjects:English language--Grammar.


196.004
Member: William Livingston
☞ A funeral elogium, on the Reverend Aaron Burr, late president of the College of New-Jersey.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: New York: Printed and sold by H. Gaine, at the Bible and Crown in Hanover-Square, [1757]


196.005
Member: William Livingston
☞ Laws of New-York, from the 11th Nov. 1752, to 22d May 1762 : published according to an order of the General Assembly : the second volume, with a table common to both volumes.
Creator(s): Smith, William, 1728-1793 (Editor)
Publication: New York: Printed by William Weyman, printer to the government at the new printing-office in Broad-Street, [1762]
Subjects:Law -- New York (State) -- Early works to 1800.


196.006
Member: William Livingston
☞ Laws of New-York, from the year 1691, to 1751, inclusive : published according to an act of the General Assembly.
Creator(s): Smith, William, 1728-1793 (Editor)
Publication: New York: Printed by James Parker, printer to the government, at the new printing-office, in Beaver-Street, [1752]


196.007
Member: William Livingston
☞ A letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, John, Lord Bishop of Landaff; occasioned by some passages in His Lordship's sermon, on the 20th of February, 1767, in which the American colonies are loaded with great and undeserved reproach.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: New York: Printed for the author; and to be sold by Garrat Noel, near the coffee-house, [1768]
Subjects:United States -- Religious life and customs.


196.008
Member: William Livingston
☞ A narrative of a new and unusual American imprisonment, of two Presbyterian ministers, and prosecution of Mr. Francis Makemie one of them, for preaching one sermon in the city of New-York. By a learner of law, and lover of liberty.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Contributor)
Publication: New York: Re-printed and sold by H. Gaine, at the printing-office, between the Fly and Meal-Markets, 1755.
Subjects:Blasphemy -- United States. | Trials (Blasphemy) -- United States. | Presbyterians -- United States. | Freedom of religion -- United States.


196.009
Member: William Livingston
☞ The petition of the trustees of the college of New-York to his, to his Honour the Lieutenant governor, praying to be incorporated; and that the liturgy of the Church of England may be established in said college with reasons offered by one of the trustees, for protesting against the charter therein prayed for ...
Creator(s): King’s College (New York, N.Y.) (Corporate Author)
Publication: [New York: s.n], 1754.


196.010
Member: William Livingston
☞ Philosophic solitude : or, The choice of a rural life : a poem : by a gentleman educated at Yale College.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: New York: Printed by James Parker, 1747.


196.011
Member: William Livingston
☞ The Querist : or, A letter to a member of the General Assembly of the colony of New-York : containing a variety of important questions occasioned by the charter lately granted for the establishment of a college.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: [New York]: Printed [by James Parker?], in the year, [1754]


196.012
Member: William Livingston
☞ A review of the military operations in North-America; from the commencement of the French hostilities on the frontiers of Virginia in 1753, to the Surrender of Oswego, on the 14th of August, 1756 : interspersed With various observations, characters, and anecdotes; necessary to give light into the conduct of American transactions in general; and more especially into the political management of affairs in New York : in a letter to a nobleman.
Creator(s): Scott, John Morin, 1730-1784 (Contributor)
Publication: London: printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, [1757]
Subjects:Braddock's Campaign, 1755. | United States -- History -- French and Indian War, 1755-1763. | New York (State) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.


196.013
Member: William Livingston
☞ A sermon preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; at their anniversary meeting in the parish church of St. Mary-le-Bow, on Friday February 20, 1767 : by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Lord Bishop of Landaff.
Creator(s): Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Great Britain) (Corporate Author)
Publication: London: Printed by E. Owen and T. Harrison ..., 1767.
Subjects:Sermons.


196.014
Member: William Livingston
☞ A soliloquy.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: [Philadelphia]: Printed [by John Dunlap], 1770.
Subjects:New York (State) -- Politics and government -- To 1775 -- Anecdotes.


196.015
Member: William Livingston
☞ Some serious thoughts on the design of erecting a college in the province of New-York : shewing the eminent advantages of a liberal education, more especially with regard to religion and politicks : humbly offered to the publick, for the encouragement of so useful an undertaking : by Hippocrates Mithridate : Apoth.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Author)
Publication: New York: Printed by John Zenger, [1749]
Subjects:New York (State) -- Study and teaching (Higher) | Universities and colleges -- New York (State)


196.016
Member: William Livingston
☞ Speech of His Excellency William Livingston, Esquire, governor, captain-general and commander in chief of the state of New-Jersey, and the territories thereunto belonging, chancellor and ordinary in the same; to the Hounourable the Council and the General Assembly of the said state.
Creator(s): Livingston, William, 1723-1790, New Jersey. Governor (1776-1790 : Livingston) (Author, Corporate Author)
Publication: [Burlington, N.J: Printed by Isaac Collins], 1777.
Subjects:New Jersey -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783. | New Jersey -- History, Military.


197.002
Member: John Morin Scott, Member: William Livingston
☞ The independent reflector.
Creator(s): Smith, William, 1759-1771 (Editor)| Scott, John Morin, 1730-1785 (Editor)| Livingston, William, 1723-1790 (Editor)
Publication: New York [New York]: printed by James Parker, at the New Printing-Office in Beaver-Street, by whom subscriptions are taken in at ten shillings per annum, [1752-1753]
Subjects:Politics -- New York -- 18th century -- Periodicals -- Early works to 1800. | Moral reform -- Periodicals -- Early works to 1800. | New York -- Politics and government -- 18th century -- Periodicals -- Early works to 1800.