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CHAPTER VI
take this step, and in the month of Oct. conveyed
his little household to Kingston, a town some distance up the Hudson, in the county of Ulster,
New-York.
["Mr. Livingston was chosen a member of the first Congress,
which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of September, 1774. In
this assembly, he took a distinguished part, and was appointed
on the Committee to prepare an address to the people of Great
Britain.
"He was re-elected a delegate in 1775, with full power to
concert with delegates of other colonies, upon such measures as
should be judged most effectual for the preservation and re-establishment of American rights and privileges.
"On the fourth of July, 1766, he affixed his signature to the
Declaration of Independence.
"On the 15th July, 1766, he was chosen by Congress a member of the Board of Treasury,
and on the 29th of April following, a member of the Marine Committee; two important trusts,
in which the safety and well-being of America were essentially
involved.
"On the 13th of May, 1777, the State Convention re-elected
him to Congress, and at the same time thanked him and his colleagues for their long and faithful services rendered to the colony
and state of New- York.
"Mr. Livingston's attendance in Congress did not, however,
preclude his employment at home, in affairs of importance. He
served in every capacity in which he could be useful in the councils of his state. He assisted in framing a constitution for the
state, and, on its adoption, was chosen a senator under it.
"In October, 1777, he was re-elected to Congress under the
new Constitution, and took his seat in Congress in May, 177S,
one of the most critical and gloomy periods of the Revolution,
and incessantly devoted his whole faculties to the salvation of his
country. He expired at York, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of
June, 1778.
"A short time previous to his demise, he sold a portion of his
property to sustain the public credit; and though he sensibly felt
the approach of death, owing to the nature of his complaint, he
did not hesitate to relinquish the endearments of a beloved family,
and devote the last remnant of his illustrious life to the service of
his country, then enveloped in the thickest gloom."]