Robert Livingston Schuyler
Encyclopedia
Dr. Robert Livingston Schuyler (Feb. 26, 1883 – Aug. 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
.
He was born in New York City. His father Montgomery Schuyler was a journalist and architectural writer, and Katherine Beeckman Livingston, a gifted amateur artist and singer. 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
. From them he derived a lifelong interest in constitutional history and an impressive capacity for exploiting documentary materials. He graduated in 1903.
He worked as a reporter for The New York Times
as he worked on his M.A. from Columbia. He later contributed many book reviews for the newspaper. Upon obtaining his masters degree, he became an instructor in history at Yale University
. There he worked with George Burton Adams
, 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
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
– 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, J.R. Green, and above all, Frederic William Maitland
, to whom he devoted his presidential address to the American Historical Association
in 1951 entitled, [The 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
.
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, 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.
Schuyler retired from teaching in 1951 after 45 years. He died in Rochester, N.Y on August 15, 1966.
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
He was born in New York City. His father Montgomery Schuyler was a journalist and architectural writer, and Katherine Beeckman Livingston, a gifted amateur artist and singer. 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
William Archibald Dunning
William Archibald Dunning was an American historian who founded the Dunning School of Reconstruction historiography at Columbia University, where he had graduated in 1881. Between 1886 and 1903 he taught history at Columbia, and was named a professor in 1904. Born in Plainfield, N...
, Herbert L. Osgood
Herbert L. Osgood
Herbert Levi Osgood was an American historian of colonial American history. As a professor at Columbia University he directed numerous dissertations of scholars who became major historians...
, and James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson was an American historian.Robinson was born Bloomington, Illinois. He taught history at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University , becoming a full professor in 1895...
. From them he derived a lifelong interest in constitutional history and an impressive capacity for exploiting documentary materials. He graduated in 1903.
He worked as a reporter for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as he worked on his M.A. from Columbia. He later contributed many book reviews for the newspaper. Upon obtaining his masters degree, he became an instructor in history at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. There he worked with George Burton Adams
George Burton Adams
George Burton Adams was an American medievalist historian who taught at Yale University from 1888 to 1925. He was noted for his written works as well as his 1908 address as president of the American Historical Association, which lamented the encroachment of the social sciences on the field of...
, 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
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
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
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
– 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, J.R. Green, and above all, Frederic William Maitland
Frederic William Maitland
Frederic William Maitland was an English jurist and historian, generally regarded as the modern father of English legal history.-Biography:...
, to whom he devoted his presidential address to the American Historical Association
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
in 1951 entitled, [The 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
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
.
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, 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.
Schuyler retired from teaching in 1951 after 45 years. He died in Rochester, N.Y 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