Edward LIVINGSTON, Congress, NY (1764-1836)

LIVINGSTON, Edward, (brother of Robert R. Livingston and cousin of Philip Livingston and William Livingston), a Representative from New York and a Representative and a Senator from Louisiana; born in Clermont, Livingston Manor, N.Y., May 28, 1764; attended private schools; graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1781; studied law in Albany, N.Y.; admitted to the bar in 1785 and commenced practice in New York City; elected from New York to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Congresses (March 4, 1795-March 3, 1801); chairman, Committee on Commerce and Manufactures (Fifth Congress); United States district attorney 1801-1803; mayor of New York City 1801-1803; moved to New Orleans, La., in 1804; engaged in the practice of law and in the real estate business; author of a legal code for Louisiana; served at the Battle of New Orleans; member, State house of representatives 1820; elected from Louisiana to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1823-March 3, 1829); elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1829, until May 24, 1831, when he resigned, having been appointed to the Cabinet; Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson 1831-1833; Minister Plenipotentiary to France 1833-1835; inherited from his sister “Montgomery Place,” on the Hudson River, Barrytown, Dutchess County, N.Y., and died there May 23, 1836; interment in the family vault at “Clermont,” Columbia County, N.Y.; remains later removed to Rhinebeck, N.Y.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Hatcher, William. Edward Livingston: Jeffersonian Republican and Jacksonian Democrat. 1940. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smith, 1970; Livingston, Edward. The Complete Works of Edward Livingston on Criminal Jurisprudence. 2 vols. 1873. Reprint. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith, 1868.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present