William Livingston, Philosopher of American Democracy

This is one of only two existing full biographies of William Livingston (1723-1790), a member of one of the most politically powerful families of New York who became a founding fathe of American democracy as a signer of the US Constitution who served as thr first governor of New Jersey from 1776 to 1790. The other full biography is James J. Gigantino II's William Livingston's American Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018): https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15859.html. The two biographies are complementary rather than duplicative because Gigantino's book focuses ion Livingston as political actor whereas Thatcher's book focuses on Livingston as political thinker. Although both cover the story of his life, one is more a study in practical politics, the other more a study of political theory. The present work had its origin in a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago in 1935, which the author later expanded and revised in the years up to 1940, but never succeeded in publishing during his lifetime (1897-1978). The author's son, former Penn State Press director Sanford Thatcher, supplies information about the author's life and a history of the book's creation and efforts to get it published in the extensive new front matter of the book, the main text of which is now in the public domain. The book has xxviii + 449 pages, although there is one page marked 171a and the first page of Chapter XII is unnumbered. Some pages have been renumbered by the author by hand, but they are all accurate numbers.

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Work Title William Livingston, Philosopher of American Democracy
Subtitle The Life and Social Philosophy of One of the Founding Fathers
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Harold W. Thatcher
Keyword
  1. William Livingston
License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
Work Type Book
Acknowledgments
  1. A minor change, but important to the family, has been made in "About the Author," page xviii, thanks to George Thatcher.
Publisher
  1. no publisher
Publication Date 2021
Subject
  1. American history
Language
  1. English
Geographic Area
  1. New York
Deposited February 10, 2021

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Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added Creator Harold W. Thatcher
  • Added William Livingston (full MS).pdf
  • Updated Publication Date, License Show Changes
    Publication Date
    • 2021-2-9
    • 2021-2
    License
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
  • Updated Publication Date Show Changes
    Publication Date
    • 2021-2
    • 2021
  • Published
  • Updated Work Title, Description Show Changes
    Work Title
    • William Livingston, Philosopher of Amwerican Democracy
    • William Livingston, Philosopher of American Democracy
    Description
    • This is one of only two existing full biographies of William Livingston (1723-1790), a member of one of the most politically powerful families of New York who became a founding fathe of American democr4acy as a signer of the US Constitution who served as thr first governor of New Jersey from 1776 to 1790. The other full biography is James J. Gigantino II's William Livingston's American Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018): https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15859.html. The two biographies are complementary rather than dup0licative because Gigantino's book focuses ion Livingston as political actor whereas Thatcher's book focuses on Livingston as political thinker. Although both cover the story of his life, one is more a study in practical politics, the other more a study of political theory. The present work had its origin in a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago in 1935, which the author later expanded and revised in the years up to 1940, but never succeeded in publishing during his lifetime (1897-1978). The author's son, former Penn State Press director Sanford Thatcher, supplies information about the author's life and a history of the book's creation and efforts to get it published in the extensive new front matter of the book, the main text of which is now in the public domain. The book has xxviii + 449 pages, although there is one page marked 171a and the first page of Chapter XII is unnumbered. Some pages have been renumbered by the author by hand, but they are all accurate numbers.
    • This is one of only two existing full biographies of William Livingston (1723-1790), a member of one of the most politically powerful families of New York who became a founding fathe of American democracy as a signer of the US Constitution who served as thr first governor of New Jersey from 1776 to 1790. The other full biography is James J. Gigantino II's William Livingston's American Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018): https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15859.html. The two biographies are complementary rather than duplicative because Gigantino's book focuses ion Livingston as political actor whereas Thatcher's book focuses on Livingston as political thinker. Although both cover the story of his life, one is more a study in practical politics, the other more a study of political theory. The present work had its origin in a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago in 1935, which the author later expanded and revised in the years up to 1940, but never succeeded in publishing during his lifetime (1897-1978). The author's son, former Penn State Press director Sanford Thatcher, supplies information about the author's life and a history of the book's creation and efforts to get it published in the extensive new front matter of the book, the main text of which is now in the public domain. The book has xxviii + 449 pages, although there is one page marked 171a and the first page of Chapter XII is unnumbered. Some pages have been renumbered by the author by hand, but they are all accurate numbers.
  • Updated
  • Updated

Version 2
published

  • Created
  • Added William Livingston full final file.pdf
  • Deleted William Livingston (full MS).pdf
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated

Version 3
published

  • Created
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • A minor change, but important to the family, has been made in "About the Author," page xviii, thanks to George Thatcher.
  • Added HWT front matter (rev.).pdf
  • Added William Livingston full text.pdf
  • Published
  • Updated

Version 4
published

  • Created
  • Deleted HWT front matter (rev.).pdf
  • Added HWT front matter (rev.).pdf
  • Published
  • Updated