At King’s College, John Jay formed several significant friendships, the most important of which was with Robert R. Livingston. This relationship gave him entrée into the circles of one of the most politically and financially important families in New York. Livingston’s great-grandfather Robert was the first proprietor of the Livingston Manor. His grandfather, also Robert, founded Clermont, or the “Lower Manor,” giving that name to this branch of the family. His father, also Robert, was a Supreme Court justice and member of the Provincial Assembly. His relations included many of the politically prominent men of the day, including his cousins William Livingston, a lawyer, political leader, and future father-in-law to John Jay, and Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence.1 The Livingstons generally opposed the royal governors and their supporters in the De Lancey faction.

Robert R. Livingston was in the class behind John Jay, graduating in 1765, and he shared Jay’s interest in the law. Upon graduation, he clerked first in the office of William Livingston and then under the direction of William Smith Jr. After their admission to the bar in 1768, Jay and young Livingston formed a law partnership, which was dissolved in 1771. Their correspondence reveals their closeness, the influence of their classical education (particularly of Cicero), and their growing involvement in politics.