William Livingston
William Livingston was born in Albany in the Province of New York on November 30,1723. He was the son of Philip Livingston the 2nd Lord of Livingston Manor and Catherine Van Brugh, the only child of Albany mayor Pieter Van Brugh.
He received his early education from local schools and tutors. At the age of 13, he was sent to live for a year and prepare for college with the Anglican missionary catechist and Yale College graduate Henry Barclay, who lived among the Iroquois in the Mohawk Valley at Fort Hunter.
Livingston enrolled at Yale in 1737 and graduated in 1741, he then went on to New York City, where he studied law and became a law clerk for the eminent lawyer James Alexander. He left Alexander's office in the spring of 1746 before finishing his apprenticeship because of a disagreement and joined the office of William Smith.Sr
Livingston married Susannah French in New Jersey in 1745. She was the daughter of landowner Philip French III and Susanna. Through their live they went on to have 13 children.
In 1747, Livingston wrote and published a long pastoral poem entitled, "Philosophic Solitude, or the Choice of a Rural Life". One of the first successful original poems written by an American colonist in 1754, Livingston also played a key role in founding the New York Society Library, which is still in existence over a quarter of a millennium later. He also authored a commentary upon the government of England in comparison to the United States Constitution, titled 'Examen du Gouvernement d’Angleterre comparé aux Constitutions des Etats-Unis', which was cited approvingly by Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in his pamphlet 'What Is the Third Estate?'.
He became a lawyer in 1748 and began his practice in New York City. In 1752, he founded a weekly journal, the Independent Reflector, along with fellow Presbyterian lawyers William Smith Jr, the son of his law teacher, and John Morin Scott. The three were called by contemporaries "The Triumvirate”.
The Reflector was New York's first serial non-newspaper publication and the only one being published in British North America at the time. It was used as a platform by the political upstate Presbyterian land-owning "country faction" led by Livingston for challenging the powerful downstate Anglican and Dutch Reformed merchant or "popular faction" led by Chief Justice James De Lancey. Most notably the Triumvirate attacked the founding of King’s College as a conspiracy by Anglicans to install a bishop in America, including his former tutor Rev. Henry Barclay, rector of Trinity Church, and his former law teacher James Alexander.
Publication of the Reflector ceased with the fifty-second issue in late 1753 after political pressure was brought to bear upon its printer James Parker, but Livingston and his allies continued to attack the college over the next year with columns in newspapers. By raising divisive issues, he managed to divert half the funds raised by a state lottery for the college to fund the construction of a new jail and a detention house for sailors from diseased ships. King's College was defiantly opened despite Livingston's efforts by President Rev Samuel Johnson in July 1754 and granted a charter by the king on October 31, 1754. Though he failed to close the college, no bishop arrived as predicted.
Livingston remained politically active and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1768 and served one term in the New York General Assembly until his political allies lost power in 1769 and was replaced by his nephew, Peter Robert Livingston, the eldest surviving son of his brother Robert.
In 1772, he moved to Elizabethtown where he rented a house in town. Livingston started construction of a large country home to house his growing family. The house, known as Liberty Hall still stands. After attaining considerable influence amongst the local patriots, Livingston was elected to serve as one of New Jersey's delegates to the Continental Congress. He served from July 1774 to June 1776. The state's Provincial Congress declined to reappoint him to the Continental Congress as he did not favour independence. Instead, they offered him command of the state's militia, an offer he declined. He returned to New Jersey and relied on his previous commission as a brigadier general of the New Jersey Militia.
In August 1776, he was elected Governor of New Jersey. For much of the time between 1776 and 1779, the family was located in Parsippany for safety. Liberty Hall was frequently visited by British troops or naval forces since there was a substantial reward for Livingston's capture. One attempt to kidnap him took place in mid-June 1779. False information about Livingston visiting his second home in Parsippany resulted in a raid by Loyalists the Loyalist mayor of New York City, was suspected by being behind the attempted capture of Livingston. The family returned to Liberty Hall in 1779 to begin restoring their looted home
He continued to be re-elected governor of New Jersey each year until his death on July 25, 1790, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was originally buried at Trinity Church, Manhattan, but on May 7, 1844, was reinterred at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
The township of Livingston, New Jersey was given its name in his honour,] as was Governor Livingston High School in Berkely Heights. The Livingston campus of Rutgers University New Brunswick also was given its name in his honour.