Livingston had long taken an intelligent interest in the possibilities of steam power, and had built and tested, on the Hudson, an experimental steamboat of his own.
Perhaps it was this, as much as anything, which aroused the interest of Thomas Jefferson--to whom he owed his appointment as minister to France--for Jefferson was actively interested in every sort of mechanical device, and his mind was not so scientific as to be inhospitable to new, and even, revolutionary, ideas.

But Livingston was not possessed by that idea which, in later years, politicians have desired us to believe especially Jeffersonian.

He was no foe to monopoly.

Indeed, before he had perfected his steamboat, he used his political influence to get from New York the concession of the _exclusive_ right to navigate her lakes and rivers by steam.

The grant was only to be effective if within one year he should produce a boat of twenty tons, moved by steam.