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People of the Revolutionary War | The Founding Fathers - An Overview | Robert Yates
Robert Yates (1738-1801) - New York
The son of Joseph and Maria Yates, Robert Yates was born in Schenectady, NY, on January 27, 1738. He
received a classical education in New York City and later studied law with William Livingston. Yates
was admitted to the New York bar in 1760 and thereafter resided in Albany.
Between 1771 and 1775 Yates sat on the Albany board of aldermen. During the pre-Revolution years Yates
counted himself among the Radical Whigs, whose vigilance against corruption and emphasis on the protection
of liberty in England appealed to many in the colonies. Once the Revolution broke out, Yates served on
the Albany committee of safety and represented his county in four provincial congresses and in the
convention of 1775-77. At the convention he sat on various committees, including the one that drafted
the first constitution for New York State.
On May 8, 1777, Yates was appointed to New York's supreme court and presided as its chief justice from
1790 through 1798. While on the bench he attracted criticism for his fair treatment of Loyalists. Other
duties included serving on commissions that were called to settle boundary disputes with Massachusetts
and Vermont.
In the 1780s Robert Yates stood as a recognized leader of the Antifederalists. He opposed any concessions
to the federal congress, such as the right to collect impost duties, that might diminish the sovereignty
of the states. When he travelled to Philadelphia in May 1787 for the federal convention, he expected that
the delegates would simply discuss revising the existing Articles. Yates was on the committee that debated
the question of representation in the legislature, and it soon became apparent that the convention intended
much more than modification of the current plan of union. On July 5, the day the committee presented its
report, Yates and John Lansing (to whom Yates was related by marriage) left
the proceedings. In a joint letter to Gov. George Clinton of New York, they spelled out the reasons for
their early departure. They warned against the dangers of centralizing power and urged opposition to
adopting the Constitution. Yates continued to attack the
Constitution in a series of letters signed "Brutus" and "Sydney" and voted against
ratification at the Poughkeepsie convention.
In 1789 Yates ran for governor of New York but lost the election. Three years after his retirement from the
state supreme court, on September 9, 1801, he died, leaving his wife, Jannetje Van Ness Yates, and four of
his six children. Though he had enjoyed a comfortable income at the start of his career, his capital had
dwindled away until very little was left. In 1821 his notes from the
Constitutional Convention were published under the title Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention
Assembled... for the Purpose of Forming the Constitution of the United States.
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