Dr. Robert Livingston Schuyler (February 26, 1883 – August 15, 1966) was a prominent scholar of early American history and British history of the same time period. He was an educator and an editor. He spent most of his academic career at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Early life

He was born in New York City. His father

Montgomery Schuyler Montgomery Schuyler AIA, (August 19, 1843, Ithaca, New York – July 16, 1914, New Rochelle, New York) was a highly influential critic, journalist and editorial writer in New York City who wrote about and influenced art, literature, music ...

(1842–1914) was a journalist and architectural writer, and mother Katherine Beeckman Livingston (1842–1914), a direct descendant of Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of Livingston Manor, was a gifted amateur artist and singer. His elder brother was Montgomery Schuyler, Jr. (1877–1955), who served as United States Minister to Ecuador and El Salvador He began his undergraduate studies in 1899 at Columbia University where he studied under some of the principle founders and shapers of the historical profession in the United States – John W. Burgess, William Archibald Dunning, Herbert L. Osgood, and

James Harvey Robinson James Harvey Robinson (June 29, 1863 – February 16, 1936) was an American scholar of history who, with Charles Austin Beard, founded New History, a disciplinary approach that attempts to use history to understand contemporary problems, which g ...

. From them he derived a lifelong interest in constitutional history and an impressive capacity for exploiting documentary materials.

Career

He worked as a reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as he worked on his M.A. from Columbia. He later contributed many book reviews for the newspaper. Upon obtaining his master's degree, he became an instructor in history at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. There he worked with

George Burton Adams George Burton Adams (June 3, 1851 in VermontAdams, George Burton
in ''

, whose celebrated textbook on English constitutional history Schuyler revised in 1934. He married Sara Keller Brooks on Oct. 19, 1907. He received his Ph.D from Columbia in 1909 and became a lecturer there the next year. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1911, to associate professor in 1919, and to full professor in 1924. He was given the title of

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...

Professor in 1942. In his book, ''Parliament and the British Empire'' (1929), Schuyler discredited the old contention – which had been recently revived by C.H. McIlwain of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

– that the acts against which American colonists had protested in the middle of the eighteenth century were without legal authority. Schuyler was one of a group of American historians who rejected the nationalistic bias endemic to much American-history writing. He attempted to explain how the old British Empire had really worked. Schuyler had a continuing interest in his great English predecessors

Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...

, J.R. Green, and above all,

Frederic William Maitland Frederic William Maitland (28 May 1850 – ) was an English historian and lawyer who is regarded as the modern father of English legal history. Early life and education, 1850–72 Frederic William Maitland was born at 53 Guilford Street, L ...

, to whom he devoted his presidential address to the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

in 1951 entitled, he Historical Spirit Incarnate: Frederic William Maitland Between 1936 and 1941, he was the managing editor of the American Historical Review. He was also a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

. To say that he inspired the historical profession would be an understatement. Most of his colleagues in the history department were among his students. He drew up the syllabus for the Columbia College course in American history (1913) and, with

Carlton J. H. Hayes Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes (May 16, 1882 – September 2, 1964) was an American historian, educator, diplomat, devout Catholic and academic. A student of European history, he was a leading and pioneering specialist on the study of nationalism. ...

, the syllabus in modern European history (1912). The latter is notable for its attention to economic and cultural history. In his later years at Columbia, he was in charge of the historiography course required of graduate students, and anyone who heard his opening lectures was permanently inoculated against the dangers of present-mindedness.Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 8, 1988. Collier Macmillan Publishers: London, pp. 579–581. Schuyler retired from teaching in 1951 after 45 years.American Historical Review, Vol.72, No. 2, pp. 803

Personal life

In 1907, he married Sara Van Dyke ( née Keller) Brooks, the sister-in-law of Luther Douglas Garrett, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Keller of Kansas City. The wedding reception was held at the Hotel Gramatan in Bronxville, New York, and invitations were sent to President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and Mrs.

Edith Roosevelt Edith Kermit Roosevelt ( née Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She also was the Second Lady of the United States in 1901 ...

, former president

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

and his wife, Frances Folsom Cleveland, Secretary and Mrs. Elihu Root, Senator and Mrs.

Chauncey Depew Chauncey Mitchell Depew (April 23, 1834April 5, 1928) was an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician. He is best remembered for his two terms as United States Senator from New York and for his work for Cornelius Vanderbilt, as ...

, and many others. Schuyler died in Rochester, New York on August 15, 1966.

Books by Schuyler

*1909: ''The Transition in Illinois from British to American government'' *1923: ''The Constitution of the United States'' *1931: ''Josiah Tucker: A Selection from his Economic and Political Writings *1934: ''Constitutional History of England'' *1945: ''The Fall of the Old Colonial System: A Study in British Free Trade, 1770–1870'' *1952: ''The Making of English History'' *1957: ''British Constitutional History since 1832''

References

External links

The Online Books Page by Robert Livingston Schuyler
at

The University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuyler, Robert Livingston 1883 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Livingston family Schuyler family American people of Dutch descent Writers from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni Historians from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers