Philip Livingston Dies in York

Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and New York delegate, died in York just weeks before Congress returned to Philadelphia. He had continued serving in Congress through declining health, and his death underscored the personal cost of public service during the Revolution.

Livingston had been a wealthy New York merchant who sacrificed his fortune for the patriot cause. His properties were confiscated or destroyed during the British occupation of New York. He died in a rented room in a small Pennsylvania town, far from home, having spent the last years of his life in service to a nation that was still fighting for its existence.