Livingston, Robert L., 1746-1813 to William Constable
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04330 Author/Creator: Livingston, Robert L., 1746-1813 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: November 4, 1798 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 32 cm, Width: 19.6 cm Order a Copy
Asking Constable to meet in London with James Watt to inquire about terms for purchasing one of Watt's 24-inch cylinder steam engines. Counsels Constable to use his "discretion" in making terms. Livingston encloses a letter [not present] to Watt, which he asks Constable to read and copy, "as it will put it in your power to negotiate with any other projector if Dr. Watt has not come up to what you may deem reasonable." Earlier that year, Livingston had been granted a monopoly on steamboat traffic in New York; he would eventually team up with Robert Fulton to start the Hudson River Steamboat Company. In 1807, Fulton would launch his first steamboat, equipped with one of Watt's engines, on the Hudson. It was named the "Clermont," after Livingston's estate.
Robert R. Livingston was serving as chancellor of New York. As a delegate to the Continental Congress, he had been a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence; he would eventually serve as a negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase. James Watt (1736-1819) was a Scottish inventor renowned for his improvements on the steam engine. He also coined the term "horsepower"; the unit of measurement Watt is named after him. William Constable (1752-1803) was a wealthy Wall Street merchant and a friend and client of Alexander Hamilton.
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