Edward Livingston

Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764 – May 23, 1836) was an American jurist, statesman and slaveholder. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both New York and then Louisiana in Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1831 to 1833 and Minister to France from 1833 to 1835 under President Andrew Jackson. He was also the 47th mayor of New York City.

Edward Livingston was born in Clermont, colonial Albany County, Province of New York (since 4 April 1786 within Columbia County, New York). He was the youngest son of Judge Robert Livingston and Margaret (née Beekman) Livingston, and was a member of the prestigious Livingston family. His father was a member of the New York Provincial Assembly and a Judge of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature, and his mother was heir to immense tracts of land in Dutchess and Ulster counties. Among his many siblings were Chancellor of New York Robert R. Livingston; Janet Livingston, who married Gen. Richard Montgomery; Margaret Livingston, who married New York Secretary of State Thomas Tillotson; Henry Beekman Livingston; Catharine Livingston, who married Freeborn Garrettson; merchant John R. Livingston; Gertrude Livingston, who married Gov. Morgan Lewis; Joanna Livingston, who married Peter R. Livingston, acting Lieutenant Governor of New York; and Alida Livingston, who married John Armstrong, Jr., a U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, and U.S. Minister to France who was the son of Gen. John Armstrong, Sr.

His maternal grandparents were Henry Beekman, a descendant of Wilhelmus Beekman, and Janet (née Livingston) Beekman, a Livingston cousin. Their children included: His father was the only child of Robert Livingston, known as "Robert of Clermont" (himself a son of Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of Livingston Manor, and Alida (née Schuyler) Van Rensselaer Livingston) and Margaret (née Howarden) Livingston.

He graduated from Princeton University in 1781.

Livingston was admitted to the bar in 1785, and began to practice law in New York City along with James Kent, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, rapidly rising to distinction. From 1795 to 1801, Livingston was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Representative in the United States Congress from the state of New York, where he was one of the leaders of the opposition to Jay's Treaty, and introduced the resolution calling upon President George Washington to furnish Congress with the details of the negotiations of the peace treaty with the Kingdom of Great Britain, which the President refused to share. At the close of Washington's administration, he voted with Andrew Jackson and other radicals against the address to the president.

Livingston was a prominent opponent of the Alien and Sedition Laws, introduced legislation on behalf of American seamen, and in 1800 attacked the president for permitting the extradition to the British government of Jonathan Robbins, who had committed murder on an English frigate and then escaped to South Carolina and falsely claimed to be an American citizen. In the debate on this question Livingston was opposed by John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States.

In 1801, Livingston was appointed United States Attorney for the district of New York, and while retaining that position was in the same year appointed Mayor of New York City. When, in the summer of 1803, the city was visited with yellow fever, Livingston displayed courage and energy in his endeavors to prevent the spread of the disease and relieve distress. He suffered a violent attack of fever, during which the people gave many proofs of their attachment to him.

Upon his recovery he found his private affairs in some confusion, and he was at the same time deeply indebted to the government for public funds which had been lost through the mismanagement or dishonesty of a confidential clerk, and for which he was responsible as US attorney. He at once surrendered all his property, resigned his two offices in 1803, and moved early in 1804 to New Orleans in what would shortly become the Territory of Orleans (1804–1812). His older brother, Robert R. Livingston, had negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, in 1803.^{[citation needed]} Edward Livingston soon built a large law practice in New Orleans, and in 1826 he repaid the Federal government in full, including the interest, which by that time amounted to more than the original principal.