John Jay

Born December 12, 1745
New York, New York
Died May 17, 1829 Bedford, New York

First chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyer, diplomat

John Jay was a highly respected lawyer who distinguished himself in several different high state and federal offices, before, during, and after the Revolutionary War (1775–83). He helped negotiate two major treaties with foreign nations that were of tremendous benefit to the newly formed United States. As chief justice, his fairness and courage in making unpopular decisions secured the public's respect for the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Jay was born in 1745 in New York City. He was the eighth child of Peter Jay, a merchant, and Mary Van Cortlandt, whose ancestors were some of the original Dutch settlers of New York. Peter Jay was widely known and respected as a man of wealth and good character.

Little has been written about John Jay's early years. He was raised in the Protestant religion on his father's comfortable farm in Rye, New York. He was educated at home before leaving at age fourteen to attend King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City.

After graduating from college in 1764, Jay prepared for a career in the law. He did it in the usual colonial way, by serving as a clerk for an already established lawyer and studying in his free time. In 1768 he opened his own law office in New York City.

In 1769 Jay did legal work for the New York–New Jersey Boundary Commission. In those days, the legal boundaries of the colonies were not clearly defined. Each colony had its own laws, and disputes often arose over which laws had to be obeyed and where. Jay found these issues fascinating, and he learned a lot about how to settle legal squabbles. This early training proved invaluable to him when he later had to settle disputes between the United States and foreign nations.

Jay became well known among his peers for his fine legal mind and his hardworking ways. He was a highly moral young man with a strong religious faith. Those close to him knew Jay as cheerful and possessing a good sense of humor.

Marries into wealth; opposes Revolutionary movement

In John Jay's time, much of the land in the colony of New York was owned by about twenty wealthy and powerful families, whose members were descended from the early Dutch or English settlers. The families were connected by marriage. Jay's mother belonged to one such family. With his marriage to Sarah Livingston in 1774, Jay joined another powerful family: Sarah was the daughter of the governor of New Jersey and had other wealthy connections. Jay and Sarah were devoted to one another. Jay's future seemed bright.

Back in 1686, John Jay's Protestant grandfather, Auguste Jay, had been forced to flee his French homeland because of religious persecution and fear of imprisonment by French Catholics. As a result, the Jay family had no love for either the French or Catholics. Unlike the majority of colonists (who had English backgrounds), Jay's family had no particular affection for England either. Still, when talk of American independence from England began in the 1760s, Jay did not at first support the movement.

As a lawyer, Jay was intimately familiar with the legal issues involved in the dispute between England and the colonies. He believed that many policies adopted by the British between 1765 and 1774 were violations of colonists' rights. Among those policies were British efforts to restrict the power of colonial lawmaking bodies and courts.

Jay saw the struggle between England and America as a fight by the colonists for their rights as Englishmen. He was appalled by colonists who expressed their anger through violence and by persecuting Loyalists (people who remained loyal to England). New York had a great many Loyalists.

Attends First and Second Continental Congresses

In 1774 Great Britain adopted a series of measures called the Intolerable Acts. They were intended to punish the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts, for their violent protests against British taxation. Spurred by sympathy for Boston's sufferings, delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies met on September 5, 1774, for the First Continental Congress. Jay gave up his law practice and went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as New York's representative in Congress.

At first Jay, like the majority of delegates to the Congress, was not in favor of declaring independence. He feared it would lead to mob rule and chaos. Jay helped prepare several documents sent by Congress to England's King George III see entry. The documents outlined colonial grievances, urged peace, and threatened to end trade with England. Jay's major contribution was an address "to the oppressed inhabitants of Canada" asking Canadians to join the colonists in opposing British policies (they did not). He became known as a skillful writer and a man who favored reasoning and compromise over hasty action.

When King George did not respond to Congress's peace overtures, Jay decided to support the patriots. He worked hard for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which was approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 3, 1776.

With the signing of the Declaration, the former colonies were now states. In 1777 Jay was back in New York to help his state write a new constitution. New York's Loyalists were shocked by Jay's support of the Revolution. But this did not stand in the way of his being named chief justice of the New York supreme court. In his short time there, he unhappily presided over many war-crimes trials (including murder, assault, and theft). Jay was glad to return to Philadelphia in 1778 to become president of the Continental Congress. He assisted in many of the complicated tasks of running the Revolutionary War.

Sent on mission to Spain

By 1779 it was clear that America needed foreign aid in its struggle with Great Britain. America had very few men who had experience in negotiating with foreign governments. Despite his youth and inexperience, thirty-four-year-old John Jay was appointed America's minister to Spain. He resigned his positions as New York's chief justice and president of the Continental Congress, and in late October 1779, he set sail for Spain to begin his new career in diplomacy.

The voyage to Spain was a rough one, and Jay was terribly seasick. His ship stopped at an island in the Caribbean, where Jay saw slaves being cruelly treated. He decided that if he ever had the chance, he would do what he could to end slavery in America.

Jay had little luck with the Spanish. Spain did enter the war against Great Britain as an ally of France, but Spain refused to recognize American independence and would not ally itself with the United States. Nor would Spain accept Jay as a representative of an independent nation. Jay was insulted both for himself and his country. He was upset with France, too, for not helping him out in his dealings with the Spanish.

Negotiates Treaty of Paris ending American Revolution

When the war ended in 1781, Jay was still in Spain. Benjamin Franklin see entry was in France, and he asked Jay to join him in negotiating the Treaty of Paris that would officially end the Revolutionary War. Jay went, but he was still angry with both Spain and France. He was further upset when France tried to push its own agenda in the peace negotiations. He believed that France was trying to win favors for itself from Great Britain, favors that would hurt America. When the complicated negotiating was all over, Jay, Franklin, and John Adams see entry had gotten very favorable terms for America. American independence was recognized, and America's western borders were extended to the Mississippi River. According to historian Richard B. Morris, "Jay's diplomatic achievements at Paris in 1782 still stand unrivalled in the annals of American diplomacy." Morris called the Treaty of Paris one of "the two most advantageous treaties ever negotiated for the United States."

John Jay returned home to a hero's welcome. While abroad, he had learned enough about the Old World that he wanted to keep America out of its clutches. Upon his arrival, though, he was informed that the Articles of Confederation (the forerunner of the Constitution) had just been adopted, and he was the new U.S. secretary for foreign affairs.

Almost at once Jay realized that he could not carry out his duties under the Articles of Confederation. The articles called for a loose union of all the states. There was no central government with powers to make and enforce treaties with foreign governments. Before Jay could do anything to settle disputes with Great Britain and Spain, he had to get directions from Congress, and the way the government was organized, congressmen could never agree on any directions.

Works to get Constitution ratified; suffers illness, injury

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 drafted a Constitution that proposed the strong central government that Jay favored. He could not attend the convention, but when the document was sent around to the states for ratification (approval), Jay worked hard for its passage in New York. To convince New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution, Jay worked with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton (see entries) to produce eighty-five newspaper articles that described why the Articles of Confederation were inadequate and explained the proposed Constitution in depth. The papers were later published in book form as The Federalist. The Federalist is still the best explanation of the U.S. Constitution.

The word "federalist" referred to the belief in a strong central government. The Constitution was opposed by "anti-federalists," men such as Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Samuel Adams (see entries). They had many objections to a strong central government. According to Richard Morris, Jay was "committed to the ideals of a republic in which the people, directed by a virtuous [moral] and educated elite, would govern, and to a national government with power to act."

While the debate over the Constitution was going on, Jay suffered a crippling bout of arthritis (painful joints). Before he had completely recovered, he was struck on the head when members of a mob that had gathered outside the New York City jail began throwing stones. The mob was protesting the then-new concept of doctors performing autopsies (examinations of dead bodies to determine the cause of death). The doctors fled for safety reasons into the jailhouse; Jay was on his way to help rescue them. For a time it was feared that he had suffered permanent brain damage, but he finally recovered.

The Constitution went into effect in 1789. George Washington see entry was elected the nation's first president and assumed office in New York, then the nation's capital. Washington appointed Jay the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. When arguments arise, the Supreme Court has the last word on the meaning of all U.S. laws and the Constitution.

Jay used his time on the Supreme Court to stress the importance of the states giving way to the authority of the federal government. He also emphasized the importance of treaties of war, peace, and trade. Jay was still serving as chief justice in 1794 when President Washington asked him to go to England and negotiate a treaty.

Jay's Treaty

For more than ten years, tensions had been building between the British and America over the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris (ending the Revolutionary War). The British complained that America had not honored its end of the bargain—it had not paid pre-war debts to British merchants and had not paid Loyalists for property taken from them during the war. Therefore, the British were refusing to withdraw their soldiers from forts on the American frontier. Then the British Navy seized American ships at sea, and the two countries nearly went to war. Jay was sent to try and restore good relations between the two countries.

In the treaty that bears his name, Jay got the British to agree to withdraw their troops, some trade agreements were made, and more or less friendly relations were restored. But Jay's Treaty was seen at home as favoring the British, and it was not popular. Dummies representing Jay were hanged and burned in his home town and he was widely criticized. Still, he managed to keep the young country out of war until the time came when America was better able to defend itself.

On his return from England in 1795, Jay retired from the position of Supreme Court justice. He then assumed the governorship of New York—in spite of Jay's Treaty, Jay was so popular in New York that he was elected without having to run for office. He served two three-year terms. To his great satisfaction, he helped pass a law that would gradually do away with slavery in New York.

After Jay left the governorship, then-President John Adams asked him to return to the Supreme Court, but Jay refused, indicating that he was too tired and in poor health. Jay retired to his estate in Bedford, New York, where he lived quietly until his death in 1829.

In an encyclopedia article about Jay, Mark Boatner quoted historian Samuel Flagg Bemis: "Jay was a very able man but not a genius." In personal character "he was second to none of the [founding] Fathers."

For More Information

Boatner, Mark M. "Jay, John" and "Jay's Treaty" in Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1994, pp. 551–53.

Combs, Jerald A. "Jay, John" in American National Biography. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, vol. 11, pp. 891–94.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Spy. London: J. T. Devison, 1821.

Morris, Richard B. John Jay, the Nation and the Court. Boston: Boston University Press, 1967, pp. x, 28–9, 37.

Morris, Richard B. The Peacemakers. New York: Harper & Row, 1965, pp. 2–4, 206, 282.

Morris, Richard B. Witnesses at the Creation: Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and the Constitution. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1985.

Web Sites

"The Indispensable Mr. Jay." [Online] Available http://www.thehistorynet.com/ (accessed on September 29, 1999).

Sally Jay, Toast of Two Continents

Sarah "Sally" Jay, beloved wife of John Jay and mother of his seven children, was beautiful, charming, and lively. She brought to their marriage not only money and family connections but also a pleasing personality. Her husband, whose own personality in public was one of cold formality, was open and loving with his wife; still, she always called him Mr. Jay. In the early days of their marriage, the Jays were often separated as John Jay went about the business of making America an independent nation. While apart, they wrote to each other three times a week. One of John Jay's letters to his wife concluded with these words: "depend upon it, nothing but actual imprisonment will be able to keep me from you."

When John Jay began the diplomatic phase of his career, Sally Jay often traveled with him. By then she was known and liked by many prominent Revolutionary figures. When she accompanied Jay on his failed trip to Spain (1779–82), General George Washington sent her a lock of his hair as a going-away gift. In Madrid, Spain, the Jays suffered the tragedy of the death of their first daughter at the age of four weeks. Their young son had remained at home.

When Jay went to France in 1782 to help negotiate a peace treaty, Sally followed soon after, bringing their newborn daughter, Maria. In 1783, she gave birth to Ann in Paris. Sally was the only wife of an American peace commissioner to be present at the peace talks in Paris. She loved Paris, and Parisians loved her. She was soon involved in the active social life at the court of King Louis XVI see entry. Sally is said to have strongly resembled the king's wife, Marie-Antoinette, and her public appearances caused quite a commotion.

When the Jays returned to the United States in 1783, they built a three-story stone house on Broadway in New York City. Sally was a popular hostess, and invitations to her dinner parties were sought after. The Jays had a second home on over nine hundred acres of farming land in Bedford, New York, then a two-day ride from New York City. Jay retired there in 1801; the next year Sally died. Jay then occupied himself with "conversation, books, and recollections" until his death. Jay's two sons, Peter Augustus and William, had distinguished careers and carried on the family name. Five generations of the Jay family lived in the home, which is preserved today as the John Jay Homestead.

Historian Richard Morris wrote that Sally Jay brought a "light touch" to her marriage that balanced "Jay's deadly earnestness and strong sense of responsibility." Morris noted that John Jay was a loving parent to his own children and also took care of four siblings who were either mentally or physically handicapped as well as many other members of his large family.