Biography of 	LIVINGSTON, Edward - Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Beryl Browning August 1998

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Livingston, Edward, lawyer, statesman and diplomat, was born at 
Clermont, Columbia county, N.Y., May 26, 1764, a younger brother of 
Robert R. Livingston (q.v.).  He was graduated at Princeton in 1781, 
then read law, and in 1785 began. practice in New York city.  He was in 
Congress from 1795 to 1801, when he was appointed U. S. district 
attorney for the district of New York by President Jefferson, and 
subsequently he was elected mayor of New York city.

In 1803, through the dishonesty of a clerk, Mr. Livingston became a 
defaulter to the national government.  He resigned his official 
position, made an assignment of his property, and removed to Louisiana, 
which had just then been purchased by the United States.  Beginning 
life anew as a New Orleans lawyer, he soon became one of the prominent 
figures in the new territory.  He was  on the committee to petition 
Congress to repeal the bill dividing the territory in 1804; became a 
regent of the University of Orleans in 1805; the same year was one of 
the founders of Christ church Episcopal), of which he served as one
of the first vestrymen; framed a code of procedure for the Territory of
Orleans that was in force for twenty years; and established a lucrative
private practice.  Some lands which he received in payment of a fee 
were claimed by the city and he became involved in tedious and 
expensive litigation. (See Batture Affair.) This litigation, and an 
accusation by Gen. Wilkinson charging Mr. Livingston with complicity 
with the Burr conspiracy, caused an estrangement between him and 
President Jefferson, who attacked Livingston in a message to Congress 
on March 7, 1808, and also in a pamphlet, to which Mr. Livingston made 
a spirited reply.  He was a member of the code commission of 1808; 
served on the committee of public defense in 1814; was an aide to Gen.  
Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and was honorably mentioned in 
Jackson's r6port.  In 1820 he was elected to the Louisiana legislature 
and was one of the committee to prepare the address to Gov. Villere at 
the close of his term.  In 1822 he was elected to the lower house
of Congress and remained in that body until 1829, when he was elected 
to the senate.  In connection with Moreau Lislet he prepared a civil 
code of Louisiana in 1823-24, and in 1826 was able to discharge his 
debt to the United States caused by the defalcation in 1803.  In the 
spring of 1831 he succeeded Martin Van Buren as secretary of- state in 
the cabinet of President Jackson, and two years later was made minister 
to France.  While in Paris he became a member of the Academy.  Mr. 
Livingston died near Rhinebeck, N. Y., May 23, 1836, leaving an 
international reputation as a lawyer.

Source:  Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume II, 
p.80-81.  Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D.  Published in 1914, by 
Century Historical Association.