Robert Robert Livingston (November 27, 1746 - February 26, 1813) was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat from New York, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was known as "The Chancellor", after the high New York state legal office he held for 25 years. He was a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, along with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Roger Sherman. As US Minister to France from 1801-04, he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. During his time as minister he met Robert Fulton, with whom he developed the first viable steamboat, the North River Steamboat, whose home port was at the Livingston family home of Clermont Manor, New York. In 1811 Fulton and Livingston became members of the Erie Canal Commission. He was a Freemason, and in 1784 he was appointed the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, retaining this title until 1801. He died in 1813 at the age of 66.