Jay, John

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John Jay

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

Statesman, diplomat, Supreme Court chief justice

Although he originally opposed the idea of American independence from Britain, John Jay became one of the most important figures in the fight for independence and the shaping of the new nation. Showing exceptional intelligence, great dignity, boundless ability, and high moral integrity, Jay made invaluable contributions to the fledgling government of the United States of America. He held more prestigious public offices than any other person in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His many roles included serving as a foreign diplomat, a Supreme Court chief justice, and governor of New York. His self-confidence and uncompromising adherence to his beliefs while in office contributed to the strong character of the nation.

"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other."

Born into a privileged life

John Jay was born to Peter Jay and Mary Van Cortlandt Jay in New York City in December 1745. He was the sixth son among eight children in the family. Both of his parents came from very influential families in the colony of New York. His mother came from one of the large landowning Dutch families that settled the Hudson River valley. His grandfather, Augustus Jay, came to New York in 1686 from France. He was part of a group of French Protestants who faced religious persecution by the French Catholic government at the time; along with many others, he escaped imprisonment in France by boarding a ship to America. John Jay grew up hearing stories about the persecution of his French ancestors, and as a result, he would never trust the French government.

John Jay's father, Peter Jay, was a successful merchant, so young John grew up in a privileged setting of wealth and power. Through private tutors, he received a well-rounded education. John was bookish and very serious in demeanor, with a keen mind and an ability to speak in grand style. Some also saw him as cold, formal, and quiet, and frequently arrogant. He could also be very stubborn. He quickly graduated from King's College (later Columbia University) in 1760 with high honors; he was only fourteen years old. He spoke French, Greek, and Latin fluently. Jay was tall and slender and was frequently ill. His face was distinctive, with a prominent nose, high arched eyebrows, and a long chin.

A career of law and politics

In 1764, Jay began the study of law at a law office in New York City. He was admitted to the bar (legal profession) in 1768 and began his private law practice. For a while, he shared a practice with a past college mate Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), like Jay a future U.S. diplomat. Jay took all kinds of legal cases and was financially successful in his work. His first public role came in 1773 when he served as secretary of a royal commission to settle a boundary dispute between the colonies of New York and New Jersey.

In April 1774, Jay married Sarah Van Brugh Livingston. Her father, William Livingston (1723–1790), was a large landowner and would serve as the governor of New Jersey during the American Revolution (1775–83). The Jays had seven children.

In 1774, Jay became a conservative member of the New York Committee of Correspondence, a committee responsible for sending out written information describing political viewpoints to similar committees in other colonies. It was a key means of sharing important information. He was also a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. At twenty-eight years of age, Jay was the second youngest member of Congress. He represented the wealthy colonial merchants who opposed independence from Britain. The merchants feared that a new, independent, democratic government (whose laws and functions are determined by the will of the majority) would mean mob rule and the loss of their property. However, Jay had one complaint about British rule: He did not like the new taxes Britain had imposed on the colonies. On this issue, he voted in favor of the decision Congress made to communicate their grievances to Britain. He personally drafted "The Address to the People of Great Britain," stating the colonists' claims. Jay also served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress meeting in 1775.

Jay becomes a Patriot

In 1776, Jay did not support the writing of the Declaration of Independence. However, once the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration, Jay joined fully with the Patriots (colonists who favored independence from Britain) to fight against British rule. Jay became a strong supporter of the revolutionary cause. The Jays, Livingstons, and Van Cortlandts were among the few wealthy families supporting the Patriot cause. After British forces invaded New York in 1776, Jay organized spy rings for the Continental Army and helped deliver cannons to troops led by General George Washington (1732–1799; see entry in volume 2), who were defending New York.

After serving in the Continental Congress, Jay played a key role in the New York Provisional Congress. He drafted a constitution for the newly formed state of New York. In the new state government, Jay was appointed chief justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1777. In this role, he would be interpreting the state constitution—the constitution that he himself had drafted. Jay served on the court until 1779. During this period, he also served in the New York militia but never saw active service. A militia is an organized military force, made up of citizens, that serves in times of emergency.

While serving on the New York court, Jay returned to Philadelphia as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress in December 1778. The delegates elected Jay president of the Congress, and he held this position until September 1779, when he received an appointment to become the U.S. minister to Spain. This appointment by Congress began his diplomatic career.

The diplomat

Jay's mission as U.S. minister to Spain was to seek Spain's support for America's fight against the British monarchy. Spain refused to provide open support; however, Spanish officials were interested in keeping their foe Britain occupied in the turmoil, so they secretly supplied funding and arms.

While in Europe in May 1782, Jay received a message from Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790; see entry in volume 1). Franklin was in Paris, France, trying to negotiate an end to the war with Britain, and he wanted Jay to come and assist him. They were joined by Massachusetts politician John Adams (1735–1826; see entry in volume 1). Jay did not waste time getting involved in the discussions: He immediately demanded British recognition of America's independence, even before a treaty was drafted, and it appeared that he had set back the sensitive negotiations that Franklin had been informally nurturing with the British. Along with Adams, Jay also convinced Franklin that they should conduct negotiations without coordinating with the French, contrary to directions from the Continental Congress.

After a difficult start, Jay's bold approach to negotiations unexpectedly proved successful. Britain had grown weary of the war, so the British negotiators agreed to the terms laid out by the Americans. The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783, putting an official end to the American Revolution. Britain recognized America's independence and gave to the United States all rights to lands east of the Mississippi River, except for lands held by Spain in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Jay returned home in July 1784 a national hero.

Foreign secretary

Upon the successful completion of the peace negotiations, Jay was offered the position of minister to Britain. However, he had been away from the United States for several years and was eager to return home, so he declined the appointment. Jay was eager to resume his private law practice and renew his involvement in New York social life. However, public service beckoned again. The Continental Congress appointed Jay secretary of foreign affairs under the new Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution. Jay was clearly the most qualified U.S. citizen in foreign affairs and was a natural choice for the job. He accepted the appointment in the Confederation government and served throughout the remainder of the 1780s.

As secretary of foreign affairs, Jay regularly received reports from John Adams, the U.S. representative in Britain, and Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826; see entry in volume 1), the U.S. representative in France. Adams and Jefferson reported that Britain and France were treating the young United States with disrespect. Jay negotiated several trade treaties with various other countries during this time but found particular frustration in dealing with Britain as well as its longtime ally Spain, both of whom refused to establish trade relations. In addition, British troops remained at trading posts in the new Northwest Territory of the United States, despite Britain's peace treaty promise to vacate that area.

Spain was also causing problems for Jay. Spain continued occupying posts in the South on U.S. soil. In addition, Spain closed navigation of the Mississippi River to Americans, cutting off the principal route for transporting produce from frontier farms west of the Appalachians to the East Coast. Jay negotiated with Spanish diplomats from 1784 to 1789, but they could not come to an agreement. In 1786, Jay thought he was close to concluding a treaty with Spain; the treaty would have given Spain exclusive use of the Mississippi River for thirty years in exchange for expanded trade between the two nations and mutual recognition of U.S. and Spanish territories in North America. However, Americans in the South and West were enraged by the prospect of giving up navigation rights to the Mississippi, and negotiations ended. Those in the West and South never trusted Jay again.

Jay grew frustrated with the Confederation government, which had no power to enforce treaty measures and was too weak to protect the new U.S. boundaries. He and other government leaders began to lobby for a stronger central government that could deal with foreign issues.

Chief justice in a new government

Busy serving as foreign secretary, Jay was not a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. However, once the new U.S. Constitution was adopted, Jay joined with fellow delegates James Madison (1751–1836; see entry in volume 2) and Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804; see entry in volume 1) to write a series of essays promoting New York's ratification (approval) of the Constitution. The essays were published in New York newspapers between October 1787 and May 1788. The articles later appeared together in a book titled The Federalist. Because he was ill at the time, Jay wrote only five of the eighty-five papers. His essays focused on foreign affairs and the Constitution.

Following ratification of the new constitution and the election of George Washington as the first president, a new national government was formed. In late 1789, Washington appointed Jay as the first chief justice of the newly formed U.S. Supreme Court, selecting him over Jay's longtime friend Robert Livingston. The Senate quickly confirmed Jay's appointment. Jay and two associate justices held the first meeting of the U.S. Supreme Court on February 1, 1790, in New York City. Jay continued serving in foreign affairs until March 1790, when Thomas Jefferson took over as secretary of state for the new government. During the Supreme Court's early years, the justices not only heard cases before that court, but were expect to preside over cases in federal courts that heard appeals (appellate courts) that were located around the nation. Therefore, one of the most demanding aspects of Jay's Supreme Court position was riding the circuit holding court in remote locations in New York and New England. Roads were poor if they existed at all.

As the nation's first chief justice, Jay established many rules and procedures for the Court. The most important case he heard was Chisholm v. Georgia in 1793. This case raised a key question of state sovereignty (freedom from external control). In his decision, Jay established the right of the federal courts to hear cases in which a citizen of one state sues another state government. This was the first Court opinion establishing the power of the federal government over state governments. However, many Americans were still apprehensive of a strong central government. This led Congress and the states to adopt the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which overturned the Court's decision in Chisholm. The new amendment denied the authority of federal courts in cases that involve an individual suing a state.

The Jay Treaty

As conflicts with Britain heated up again through the 1790s, President George Washington selected U.S. Supreme Court chief justice John Jay to journey to Britain. Jay was to reach a peaceful settlement on several nagging issues: Britain's refusal to recognize U.S. neutrality rights to international trade; the continued presence of British troops at fur-trading posts on American soil in the Northwest Territory; British encouragement of Native American resistance to expansion of American settlement in the West; and Britain's continuing practice of capturing American sailors to serve on British warships, a practice called impressment. For their part, the British wanted to resolve the issue of unpaid debt, money that the United States owed Britain for damages caused during the American Revolution. In the peace treaty that ended that war, America had promised to pay this debt; however, it had failed to do so.

By the 1790s, Jay had established himself as the leading foreign diplomat of the young nation. Relations with Britain were a hot political issue in the United States. Supporters of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wanted retaliation against Britain for its actions as well as closer relations with France. Supporters of Alexander Hamilton wanted to expand trade relations with Britain and settle the differences. Hamilton's economic policies heavily relied on tax revenue on goods imported from Britain.

Jay sided with Hamilton and sought to reach a compromise with Britain. He spent the summer of 1794 negotiating with British foreign secretary Lord Grenville (1759–1834). Jay's goals were to gain British recognition of U.S. neutrality trading rights, convince the British to abandon the Northwest Territory forts, and open the British-held West Indies once again to American trade ships. Because the United States had almost no military to protect American interests and enforce treaties, Jay was negotiating from a weak position. Britain did agree to evacuate the forts, as it had already promised to do in 1783, and did open the West Indies to limited trade by small American commercial ships. The two nations also established claims commissions to determine payments of damages and debts on both sides. However, Britain steadfastly refused to recognize the U.S. proclaimed neutrality trade rights, and Jay promised not to interfere with British trade for at least ten years.

When the terms of the Jay Treaty reached the United States, Jefferson and his supporters were enraged. They accused Jay of selling out to Britain in order to protect Hamilton's economic programs. France felt betrayed that the United States had negotiated with Britain at all, because this violated an existing treaty between America and France that dated back to the American Revolution. Despite the uproar, President Washington signed the treaty, and the U.S. Senate ratified it. Though highly controversial, the treaty proved very beneficial to the young nation in maintaining financial stability. However, it also transformed the two political factions behind Jefferson and Hamilton into more-organized political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.

While serving as chief justice, Jay was the Federalist candidate for governor of New York in 1792; his opponent was incumbent governor George Clinton (1739–1812; see entry in volume 1). Though Jay appeared to win, an election board threw out a number of ballots, claiming they were invalid. As a result, the election swung to Clinton. Jay continued to serve on the Supreme Court.

Back to Europe

Chief Justice Jay was still regarded as the leading expert in foreign affairs. However, in large part, Jay was reluctant to advise President Washington and Treasury Secretary Hamilton on current issues or participate in congressional debates over proposed bills. Jay believed in a strict separation of powers between the branches of government. He believed his main role on the Court was to rule on the constitutionality of cases.

Nonetheless, when France and Britain began warring against each other in 1793 and the United States needed to take an official position on the war, Jay drafted an important neutrality proclamation for President Washington. The proclamation asserted that the United States favored neither Britain nor France, and that the United States had a right to continue its profitable international trade as before. However, despite the proclamation, tensions remained with Britain. President Washington sent Jay to Britain to negotiate a settlement of several issues during the summer of 1794 (see box). The resulting agreement, known as the Jay Treaty, attracted severe criticism in the United States and greatly angered France. However, President Washington signed it, and the U.S. Senate ratified it. The treaty maintained peace and economic stability at a critical time in the nation's development.

New York governor

Upon his return from Britain in 1795, Jay discovered he had been nominated and elected governor of New York. He resigned his position on the Supreme Court and assumed his new office. Jay served as governor for six years. During that time, he pushed through key prison reforms and much needed canal construction projects. He also signed the state law abolishing slavery. By the 1800 elections, the rising tide of public support for presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson and other candidates of the Democratic-Republican Party strongly suggested that Jay would likely lose if he ran for reelection. Therefore, Jay decided it was time to retire from public service.

In the November 1800 presidential election, President John Adams, the Federalist candidate, lost his bid for reelection to Thomas Jefferson, leader of the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republicans had also won a majority of seats in Congress. While he was finishing his term in office, President Adams did what he could to keep some Federalist influence in the government, specifically in the federal courts. Adams asked Jay if he would consider returning to the chief justice position on the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Oliver Ellsworth (1745–1807). However, Jay was determined to retire because of health problems, both his own and those of his wife. In addition, he thought the chief justice position held too little power and prestige. Adams next turned to Secretary of State John Marshall (1755–1835; see entry in volume 2), who accepted the job and later built it into a very powerful position.

Lengthy retirement

The Jays settled onto an 800-acre farm in Bedford, New York, a two-day ride from New York City. Jay was greatly saddened by the death of his wife in 1802, so soon after Jay had left public service. Jay spent twenty-eight years in retirement but stayed away from politics. He took an active role in church affairs and was elected president of the Westchester Bible Society in 1818 and the American Bible Society in 1821. Jay died in May 1829.