John Jay Papers
Documents filtered by: Recipient="Livingston, Robert R."
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-01-02-0040

From John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, January 1769

To Robert R. Livingston

[New York, January 1769]

Dear Robt.

The letter you mention to have wrote the week before last, has never come to Hand and I cant account for the Miscarriage of two Letters I wrote you by the Post last Monday, in which I informed You of the Dissolution &c.—1 The Paper you inclosed by will be printed to Night, and 100 shall be struck off and sent—Coll. Beekman2 has either wrote or procured a Paper to be written, 60 of wh. you will recieve by this Opportunity—The Votes now sent are what can be found of those wh. the Printers Boy from Time to Time h[torn] into the Street Door—I applied to Gain3 [torn] compleat set, but was informed that [torn] Members were not yet supplyed the[r][torn] none to be disposed of—The Measures [torn] the DeLancey Gent have adopted relative [torn] Act for dividing Beekmans Precinct h[torn] offence to the Coll—4 I suspect he begins to impute many things to Policy wh. he before considered as the Effect of publick Spirit

All the News that I can write, will be but a Repetition of what you must have heard. Ph: Livingston shakes—he is said to have played a double Game, Appearances are agt. him, if true I hope he may lose his Election—No Presbeterian has given Place to no Lawyer, and no Churchman is substituted in the Room of no Bishop—5 The Election here will me [be?] the Monday after the Court and at WChester on the same Day—I hope you will give yourself no Concern abt Matters here, nor leave the Country before it may be convenient—be not sparing in your Comma[nds] for I expect & I have I shall ^always^ consider every Opportunity you give me of serving yourself or Family as an Instance of your Friendship. Present my Respects to you the ^your^ Family [and r]est assured that I am my Dear Robt. your afft. Friend

John Jay

ALS, NHi: Livingston (EJ: 777).

1No other portions of the JJ-Livingston correspondence for December 1768–January 1769 have been located. The New York assembly met in October 1768. On 31 December the Assembly passed a series of resolutions protesting British colonial policy: that all British subjects had equal rights throughout the empire, that “it would be inconsistent with the constitutional rights of his Majesty’s subjects in Great Britain, to tax them either in person or estate, without the consent of their representatives in parliament assembled,” that New York’s legislature could not “lawfully or constitutionally be suspended,” that the colonies had a right to correspond with each other, and that a committee of correspondence would be formed to communicate with other colonies and the court on matters concerning New York. These resolutions prompted Gov. Sir Henry Moore to dissolve the assembly two days later. Moore cited the “extraordinary nature of certain resolves lately entered on your journals; some flatly repugnant to the laws of Great Britain, and others, with an apparent tendency to give offence, where common prudence would avoid it.” The assembly resolutions of 31 Dec. 1768 and Moore’s statement of 2 Jan. 1769 dissolving the legislature are printed in Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York, from 1766 to 1776, Inclusive (Albany, 1820), October 1768–January 1769 session, 70–71 and 75–76.

2Henry Beekman II, Robert R. Livingston’s maternal grandfather.

3Hugh Gaine was appointed the colony’s public printer on 15 Jan. 1768. Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York, from 1766 to 1776, Inclusive (Albany, 1820), November 1767–February 1768 session, 74.

4On 17 Nov. 1768, Dirck Brinckerhoff, an assemblyman from Dutchess County, introduced a bill entitled “an act to divide Beekman’s precinct, in Dutchess county, into precincts, to be called Beekman’s and Pauling’s precinct.” The Beekman lands consisted of 105,766 acres granted to Henry Beekman I in 1697. As the largest landholders in Dutchess County, the Beekmans had controlled the two assembly seats from that county. However, in the 1768 election, Judge Robert R. Livingston, Henry Beekman’s son-in-law, was defeated by Dirck Brinckerhoff, who was able to capitalize on antilandlord sentiment. Brinckerhoff defeated Livingston again in the 1769 election. The assembly and council approved the bill to divide the land on 24 Dec. 1768, but it was vetoed by Governor Moore on 31 Dec. 1768. On the last day of the assembly session, 2 Jan. 1769, James De Lancey (1732–1800), the leader of his family’s political faction, put through a resolution asking the governor to reconsider the bill. Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York, from 1766 to 1776, Inclusive (Albany, 1820), October 1768–January 1769 session, 21, 61, and 74; Staughton Lynd, “Who Should Rule at Home? Dutchess County, New York, in the American Revolution,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly description ends 18 (1961): 330–59.

5Philip Livingston, representing New York City, served as Speaker in the recently dissolved assembly. After the legislature’s dissolution, the popular Livingston rebuffed the offer to join a coalition ticket with James De Lancey, Jacob Walton, and James Jauncey. Instead, his name was placed on a ticket that included sometime radical John Morin Scott, Peter Van Brugh Livingston, and Theodorus Van Wyck. The Livingstons built on fears of an Anglican bishop, attempting to rally dissenters to their side, while the De Lanceys played on anti-Presbyterian sentiment and distrust of the legal profession. The election was a major defeat for the Livingstons. Philip Livingston’s seat and his position as Speaker were taken by John Cruger, but he remained in the assembly, being appointed representative from the Livingston Manor. Philip Livingston, To the Freeholders and freemen, of the city and county of New-York (New York: John Holt, 1769; Early Am. Imprints description begins Early American Imprints, series 1: Evans, 1639–1800 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of Newsbank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–8, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ description ends , no. 11311); election report with returns, New-York Journal; or, The General Advertiser, 2 Feb. 1769; Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York, from 1766 to 1776, Inclusive (Albany, 1820), April 1769–May 1769 session, 3; Roger Champagne, “Family Politics versus Constitutional Principles: The New York Assembly Elections of 1768 and 1769,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly description ends 20 (1963): 57–79.

Index Entries