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Document 15621 ROBERT FULTON Contract forming the Mississippi Steam Boat Navigation Company, to be operated by Fulton and heirs of Robert R. Livingston, in settlement of contested will. Important Manuscript DS: "Robert Fulton", "Edward P. Livingston" and "Robert L. Livingston", witnessed by "John Livingston", 2p, 30x22. On vellum. New York, 1814 June 14. In part: "Whereas the said Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston late of Clermont aforesaid deceased in the life of the said Robert R. Livingston did obtain in due form of law and pursuant to the Statutes of the United States, certain patents for applying the power of steam to the purposes of navigation And Whereas the said Edward P. Livingston and Robert L. Livingston two of the parties of the first part are the legal representatives of the said Robert R. Livingston deceased and of Mary Livingston his widow who is also deceased as to all his rights and interest in the said Patents. And whereas certain proposals were made by the said Robert R. Livingston in his lifetime; and the said Robert Fulton bearing date at New Orleans on the fourth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve, that sixty thousand dollars should be raised and subscribed in six hundred shares of one hundred dollars each for the purposes of building under their patents and on their principles two steam boats to run between New Orleans and Louisville on the Ohio river and to Saint Louis on the Mississippi which subscribers and their assigns should form a company to be called the Mississippi steam boat navigation company...." Company boats were to be built under the direction of Robert Fulton. In 1802, U.S. Minister to France Robert R. Livingston commissioned Fulton to build a steamboat and obtained a monopoly (later broken) of steam navigation. On February 25, 1813, Livingston suffered a fatal stroke after a long illness. By law, Mrs. Livingston was assigned one-half of her husband's steamboat interest and one-third of the net proceeds. On March 26, 1814, Mrs. Livingston died, leaving no will. FULTON ASSERTED THAT HER SONS EDWARD P. AND ROBERT L. WERE ASSIGNS OF MRS. LIVINGSTON AND NOT OF HER HUSBAND AND, THEREFORE, ACCORDING TO THE 1802 AGREEMENT WERE SIMPLY SHAREHOLDERS WITH NO VOTE. FULTON INSISTED THAT THE SONS PAY THEIR HALF OF THE OUTSTANDING DEBTS IMMEDIATELY. AT THE TIME, THE STEAMBOAT COMPANY OWED $60,000. On May 3, 1814, Fulton wrote Edward that he could not "superintend the various works, correspond, attend to contracts, create companies and contest piracies throughout the continent" without some help and urged him and Robert L. to come to New York so that they might settle their differences in person (Manuscript Collection, Claremont State Historic Park). THEY CAME TO NEW YORK AND REACHED AN AGREEMENT RESULTING IN THIS DOCUMENT. ON JUNE 14, 1814, BY THIS DOCUMENT, ROBERT FULTON, EDWARD P. LIVINGSTON AND ROBERT L. LIVINGSTON FORMED THE MISSISSIPPI STEAM BOAT NAVIGATION COMPANY. The signatures were witnessed by JOHN LIVINGSTON, Robert Fulton's brother-in-law and the brothers' second cousin. IT IS PROBABLY MORE THAN A COINCIDENCE THAT THEIR STEAMBOAT ENTERPRISE'S DEBT AT THE TIME WAS $60,000 AND THIS DOCUMENT AUTHORIZES THE RAISING OF $60,000. In addition, two stockholders have subscribed: "Thomas Morris" for 113 shares ($11,300) and "Sarah Lea" for 100 shares ($10,000). MORRIS was a member of the New York State Canal Committee. In October 1811, the first steamboat on Western waters, passed down the Ohio River. The boat, a "side-wheeler", was built at Pittsburgh, under the direction of Nicholas J. Roosevelt of New York (great-uncle of Theodore Roosevelt), an agent of Fulton and Livingston and was called the New Orleans. It arrived at Louisville on October 28th. Following the success of the New Orleans, the Vesuvius and the Aetna were built at Pittsburgh by the Fulton-Livingston company. On August 26, 1814, Robert Fulton and Edward Livingston (the brothers' uncle) brought commercial success to steamboating when they began to offer regular steamboat service between New Orleans, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi. They were granted monopoly rights by the Territory of Orleans. The boats traveled at the rates of eight miles per hour downstream and three miles per hour upstream. Edward Livingston was on General Andrew Jackson's staff in the War of 1812 and, on January 8, 1815, General Jackson fought from the deck of one of the company's steamboats at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1816, Henry Miller Shreve of Shreveport, Louisiana, made history by launching his steamboat Washington. Before long it was making the trip from New Orleans to Louisville in 25 days. Shreve broke the Fulton-Livingston monopoly of steam navigation on the Mississippi River. Because of Shreve's persistence, Livingston's case against him was dismissed in 1817, opening the way to free trade on the Mississippi. This case was instrumental in establishing a precedent for unfettered interstate commerce which was finally confirmed in 1823 by the U. S. Supreme Court case, Gibbons v. Ogden, relating to the Fulton-Livingston steamboat monopoly in New York. Creased with folds not touching signatures. Overall, fine condition. SEE IF DOCUMENT 15621 IS FOR SALE RIGHT NOW!!
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