Philip Livingston | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the New York State Senate | |
| In office September 9, 1777 – June 12, 1778 | |
| Preceded by | Created |
| Succeeded by | James Jay |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1716-01-15)January 15, 1716 |
| Died | June 12, 1778(1778-06-12) (aged 62) York,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 9 |
| Parent(s) | Philip Livingston Catherine Van Brugh |
| Relatives | SeeLivingston family |
| Alma mater | Yale College |
| Occupation | Merchant,politician |
| Signature |  |
Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an AmericanFounding Father, merchant, politician, and slave trader fromNew York City. He representedNew York at the October 1774First Continental Congress, where he favored imposingeconomic sanctions uponGreat Britain as a way of pressuring theBritish Parliament to repeal theIntolerable Acts.[1] Livingston was also a delegate to theSecond Continental Congress from 1775 to 1778, and signed theDeclaration of Independence.[2]
Livingston was born inAlbany, New York, on January 15, 1716,[3] the fourth surviving son ofPhilip Livingston (1686–1749), 2ndLord of the Manor, and Catherine Van Brugh Livingston, the daughter of New York MayorPieter Van Brugh. Along with his brother,William Livingston (1723–1790), he grew up in the Albany area, dividing his time between his father's Albany townhouse and the manor house in Linlithgo, at the junction of theRoeliff Jansen Kill and theHudson River.[4]
Livingston graduated fromYale College in 1737.
Following graduation, he returned to Albany to undergo a mercantile apprenticeship under his father.[5] Through his father's influence, he obtained clerkships in Albany's municipal government.[6] Livingston subsequently moved toNew York City and pursued a career in the import business, trading with theBritish West Indies. DuringKing George's War, Livingston made a fortune provisioning British forces and engaging inprivateering. He also speculated heavily inreal estate and theslave trade, financing at least fifteen slave-trading voyages, which transported hundreds of enslaved Africans to New York.[7]
He purchased a stonetownhouse onDuke Street,Manhattan, a forty-acre estate inBrooklyn Heights and personally owned several slaves, one of whomran away in November 1752; Livingston published advertisements in several city newspapers, including theNew-York Mercury andNew-York Gazette, offering a reward for his recapture. He also served as analderman of theEast Ward from 1754 to 1762.[3][8]
Livingston also became involved in the establishment ofKing's College and helped to organize theNew York Society Library in 1754.[9] In 1756 he was president and founding member of theSt. Andrew's Society, New York's first benevolent organization, and he founded New York City'sfirst chamber of commerce in 1768.[6] Livingston was also one of the first governors ofNew York Hospital.[2]
In 1754, Livingston was a delegate to theAlbany Congress. There, he joined delegates from several other colonies to negotiate with Indigenous nations and discuss common plans for dealing with theFrench and Indian War. Livingston became an active promoter of efforts to raise and fund troops for the war. According to Cynthia A. Kiemer, he owned shares in six privateers, making him one of the colony's leading investors.[6]
He served as a member of the provincial house of representatives from 1763 to 1769 and in 1768 served as speaker.[3] In October 1765, he attended theStamp Act Congress, which produced the first formal protest to the Crown as a prelude to theAmerican Revolution. He joined New York City'sCommittee of Correspondence to continue communication with leaders in the other colonies, and New York City'sCommittee of Sixty.[2] When New York established theNew York Provincial Congress in 1775, he was named its president.
He was selected as one of the delegates to theContinental Congress.[10] His brother William, a prominent lawyer in New Jersey, was also a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to June 1776. In July 1775, Philip signed theOlive Branch Petition, a final attempt to achieve an understanding with the Crown.
When the British occupied New York City, Philip and his family fled toKingston, New York, where he maintained another residence.[2] During this time, his abandoned slaves "may have sought their freedom in enemy-occupied Manhattan, where the British offered freedom to any black Americans willing to aid them in stamping down the American 'rebellion.'"[11] After theBattle of Long Island, GeneralGeorge Washington and his officers met at Philip's residence in Brooklyn Heights and decided to evacuate the island. The British subsequently used Philip's Duke Street home as a barracks and his Brooklyn Heights residence as a Royal Navy hospital.[2]
After the adoption of the new New York State Constitution, he was appointed to theNew York State Senate southern district in1777, while continuing to sit in the Continental Congress.[12] Livingston suffered fromdropsy, and his health deteriorated in 1778.[6]
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On April 14, 1740, he married Christina Ten Broeck (1718–1801), daughter ofDirck Ten Broeck (1686–1751) and Margarita Cuyler (1682–1783). Christina was the sister of Albany MayorAbraham Ten Broeck and the great-granddaughter of Albany MayorDirck Wesselse Ten Broeck (1638–1717), through her maternal grandfather, Wessel Ten Broeck (1664–1747).[13] Together, Philip and Christina had nine children:[14]
On Jume 12, 1778, Livingston died suddenly while attending the sixth session of Congress inYork, Pennsylvania,[10] and is buried in the Prospect Hill Cemetery there. Livingston was aPresbyterian and aMason.[18] When Livingston died, his estate was insufficient to meet his debts, and his executors renounced the administration of the estate. On February 25, 1785, theNew York Legislature passed an act, entitledAn Act for vesting the Estate of Philip Livingston, late of the City of New-York, Esquire, deceased, in Trustees for the Payment of his Debts, and other Purposes therein mentioned,[17] which named as trustees his son and heir, Philip Philip Livingston,Isaac Roosevelt, and Robert C. Livingston, his nephew who was a son ofRobert Livingston, 3rd Lord of the Manor. The trustees were responsible for administering Livingston's "property, pay all debts, and discharge the pecuniary legacies."[17] After his son's death in 1788, Rev. John Henry Livingston, Thomas Jones, both his sons-in-law,Henry Brockholst Livingston, his nephew, andAlexander Hamilton were appointed the executors of his will.[17]
Through his son Philip, the only of his sons to have children, he was the grandfather of Philip Henry Livingston (1769–1831) andEdward Philip Livingston (1779–1843), theLieutenant Governor of New York.[15] Through Philip Henry, he was the great-grandfather ofEdward Livingston (1796–1840),Speaker of the New York State Assembly. His granddaughter, Christina Livingston, married John Navarre Macomb (1774–1810), the son ofAlexander Macomb (1748–1831) and brother ofMaj. Gen. Alexander Macomb (1782–1841).[4] Through his daughter Catherine, he was the grandfather ofStephen Van Rensselaer III (1764–1839), the patroon ofRensselaerswyck,Philip S. Van Rensselaer (1767–1824), theMayor of Albany,Rensselaer Westerlo (1776–1851), a U.S. Representative, and Catharine Westerlo (1778–1846), who marriedJohn Woodworth, theNew York State Attorney General.[19][20]
Livingston Avenue and the formerPhilip Livingston Magnet Academy, both inAlbany, New York, are named for him.[6] A public school in Brooklyn, PS 261 inBoerum Hill, used to be named for him, but the name was changed in 2022 to the Zipporiah Mills School, to honor the memory of a beloved and influential former principal at the school.[21]
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