William Livingston-Signer of the Constitution

William Livingston was born on November 30, 1723 in Albany, New York and he died July 25, 1790 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.  He came from a family of very wealthy merchants who owned a large estate along the Hudson River.  William Livingston, however, decided to not follow in his family's footsteps. He went to Yale and earned a degree in what we would today call political science. He then went on to become a lawyer and he started his own law practice in New York City.  At about the same time he started the Independent Reflector, a newspaper which was very influential in political, state, and national subjects.  William Livingston was a charter member of the American Philosophical Society.   He retired from the legal and political scene for a while to become a gentleman farmer before being pushed back in because of the Revolutionary War.

In 1774 William Livingston went to the Continental Congress as a delegate.  Later, in 1775, he joined the New Jersey militia as a Brigadier General.  His role in the militia was mainly that of organizing and training militia members in defence.  In 1776 he became New Jersey's first elected governor.  While the Articles of Confederation were in place, William Livingston spoke against their weakness in sustaining a strong country.

It is no surprise that when the Constitutional Convention came around that William Livingston led his state as one of four delegates.  At the convention, Livingston stood strongly for the New Jersey plan which advocated a legislature where each state had equal representation (senate).  When the Great Compromise rolled into place, William Livingston gladly agreed with the formation of the Senate (for equal representation) and the House of Representatives (for representation based on population).  William Livingston was one of the many founders who were opposed to the institution of slavery, but in order to get the southern states to join the Union he and many others did not immediately abolish it.  Livingston with others made it possible in the Constitution to eventually get rid of slavery.  With the 3/5 compromise, the southern states were not able to have an extreme amount of congressmen with the help of their large slave population. Thus, slavery could eventually be changed and the southern states would not have an overriding vote on the matter.  The issue of slavery was eventually resolved, but only after the civil war.  William Livingston said this about the institution of slavery:

"I hope we shall at last, and if it so please God I hope it may be during my life time, see this cursed thing [slavery] taken out. . . . For my part, whether in a public station or a private capacity, I shall always be prompt to contribute my assistance towards effecting so desirable an event."

William Livingston is a great example of the goodness of the men who founded are country.  His experience and political knowledge were great contributions to the forming of the Constitution.