John Jay

John Jay 1745-1829, American statesman, first Chief Justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time was a partner of Robert R. Livingston. His marriage to Sarah, daughter of William Livingston, allied him with that influential family. In pre-Revolutionary activities he reflected the views of the conservative colonial merchant, opposing British actions but not favoring independence. Once the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, however, he energetically supported the patriot cause. As a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses he urged a moderate policy, served on various committees, drafted correspondence, and wrote a famous address to the people of Great Britain. Returning to the provincial congress of New York, he guided the drafting (1777) of the first New York state constitution. Jay was appointed (1777) chief justice of New York but left that post to become (Dec., 1778) president of the Continental Congress. In 1779 he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Spain, where he secured some financial aid, but failed to win recognition for the colonial cause. He was appointed (1781) one of the commissioners to negotiate peace with Great Britain and joined Benjamin Franklin in Paris. Jay declined further diplomatic appointments in Europe and returned to America to find that Congress had appointed him Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a post he held (1784-89) for the duration of the government under the Articles of Confederation. Although he was able to secure minor treaties, he found it impossible under the Articles of Confederation to make progress in the settlement of major disputes with Great Britain and Spain, a situation that caused him to become one of the strongest advocates of a more powerful central government. He contributed five papers to The Federalist, dealing chiefly with the Constitution in relation to foreign affairs. Under the new government Jay became (1789-95) the first Chief Justice of the United States. He concurred in Justice James Wilson's opinion in Chisholm v. Georgia, which led to the passing of the Eleventh Amendment. When the still-unsettled controversies with Great Britain threatened to involve the United States in war, Jay was drafted for a mission to England in 1794, where he concluded what is known as Jay's Treaty . After having unsuccessfully opposed George Clinton for governor of New York in 1792, Jay was elected and served (1795-1801) two terms. He declined reelection and also renomination to the U.S. Supreme Court and retired to his farm at Bedford in Westchester co. for the remaining 28 years of his life.

Bibliography: See H. P. Johnston, ed., Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (4 vol., 1890-93, repr. 1970); biographies by G. Pellew (1890, repr. 1980), F. Monaghan (1935, repr. 1972), and D. L. Smith (1968); R. B. Morris, John Jay: The Nation and the Court (1967) and Witnesses at the Creation (1989).

Jay, John (1745–1829), statesman, diplomat, first chief justice of the Supreme Court.Born to wealth in New York City, John Jay was a rather a political lawyer until the eve of the Revolutionary War. In 1775, he became a member of the Second Continental Congress and a leader of the conservative faction that favored resistance to Britain but opposed independence. After independence, he drafted the constitution of the State of New York, served as president of Congress in 1779, became U.S. representative to Spain in 1780, and joined Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to negotiate peace with Great Britain.

Returning from Europe in 1783, Jay served Congress as secretary for foreign affairs for the next six years. Although not a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he supported its efforts by helping Alexander Hamilton and James Madison write the Federalist Papers to defend the new Constitution. President George Washington rewarded Jay's efforts by appointing him the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1794, Washington sent Jay to London to settle issues that threatened to drag the United States into war against Britain on the side of revolutionary France. The controversial concessions he made in the resultant Jay's Treaty produced a major party battle between Jay's Federalists and the Republican opposition. After two terms as governor of New York, Jay retired from politics. Overshadowed by more illustrious contemporaries, John Jay was a steady conservative contributor to the creation and survival of the new nation.
See also Early Republic, Era of the; Federalist Party; Revolution and Constitution, Era of.

Bibliography

Frank Monaghan , John Jay: Defender of Liberty, 1935.
Richard B. Morris , John Jay, the Nation, and the Court, 1965.

Jerald A. Combs

Jay, John (1745–1829), New York lawyer, statesman, and jurist, was educated at King's College, and, admitted to the bar (1768), practiced in partnership with Robert Livingston. A conservative aristocrat, allied with the commercial class, he opposed separation from England until the Declaration of Independence, but thereafter was a leading supporter of the Revolutionary cause. As a member of the two Continental Congresses, he was the author of the celebrated Address to the People of Great Britain (1774) and of appeals to Canada, Jamaica, and Ireland to join in the rebellion (1775). He helped to draw up the New York state constitution, and served as chief justice of the state, and later as governor (1795–1801). His federal appointments included minister to Spain (1780–82); peace commissioner to England (1782); secretary of foreign affairs (1784–89); and first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1789–95). His five essays in The Federalist (1787–88), numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 64, deal with the Constitution in relation to foreign affairs, and are marked by a lucid style and reasoning power. He is also noted for the so‐called Jay's Treaty with England, concluded in 1794, which provided for the British evacuation of northwestern posts, allowed Loyalists full protection in becoming American citizens, permitted unrestricted navigation of the Mississippi, and authorized trade between the U.S. and Canada and equal privileges for vessels of both nations in Great Britain and the East Indies, while restricting American trade in the West Indies. Considered unduly favorable to British interests, the treaty aroused indignant protests in the U.S. but was finally ratified.