The Kings College Alum Who Helped Write the Declaration of Independence

What a meeting of great minds it was about 250 years ago!

"On June 11, 1776, with the American Revolution raging, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and appointed five men to draft a statement declaring a break from Great Britain. This group, known as the Committee of Five, comprised lawyer and lead author Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; lawyer John Adams, of Massachusetts; Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania; judge Roger Sherman, of Connecticut; and lawyer Robert Livingston 1765KC, of New York.

Though only twenty-nine, four years younger than even the rising star Jefferson, Livingston was chosen for his legal acumen. His insights informed the document’s litany of abuses charged to King George III and its conclusion that “a Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” The colonies adopted the text, soon to be known as the Declaration of Independence, on July 4, and fifty-six delegates signed it.

But Livingston, recalled to New York to draft the state constitution with his law partner, John Jay 1764KC, and his friend Gouverneur Morris 1768KC, missed the signing ceremony, and his name does not appear on the parchment. ..."

The Columbia-Educated Lawyer Who Helped Write the Declaration of Independence | Columbia Magazine "Robert Livingston 1765KC may have missed the document’s official signing, but his anti-tyranny legal philosophy still resonates today."

Declaration of Independence authors Adams, Sherman, Livingston, Jefferson, and Franklin.