John Jay

John Jay
1st Chief Justice of the United States
In office October 19 1789 – June 29 1795
Nominated by	George Washington
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	John Rutledge

John Jay (December 12 1745 – May 17 1829) was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, and jurist. Considered one of the "founding fathers" of the United States, Jay served in the Continental Congress, and was elected President of that body in 1778. During and after the American Revolution, he was a minister (ambassador) to Spain and France, helping to fashion American foreign policy and to secure favorable peace terms from the British and French. He co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Jay served on the U.S. Supreme Court as the first Chief Justice of the United States from 1789 to 1795. In 1794 he negotiated the Jay Treaty with the British. A leader of the new Federalist party, Jay was elected Governor of New York state, 1795-1801. He was the leading opponent of slavery and the slave trade in New York. His first attempt to pass emancipation legislation failed in 1777, and failed again in 1785, but he succeeded in 1799, signing the law that eventually emancipated the slaves of New York; the last were freed before his death.

Early life

John Jay was born on December 12, 1745 to a wealthy family of merchants in New York City. His family, descended from French Huguenot stock, was prominent in New York City. Jay had numerous rich and prominent ancestors and relatives including his paternal(fatherly, maternal is motherly) grandfather Jacobus Van Cortlandt.

Jay attended King's College, the forerunner of today's Columbia College, and began the practice of law in 1768 in partnership with his relative by marriage, Robert Livingston. A successful lawyer, Jay also engaged in land speculation. His first public role came as secretary to the New York committee of correspondence, where he represented the conservative faction that was interested in protecting property rights and in preserving the rule of law while resisting British violations of American rights. This faction feared the prospect of "mob rule". He believed the British tax measures were wrong and thought Americans were morally and legally justified in resisting them, but as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 he sided with those who wanted conciliation with Parliament. Events such as the burning of Norfolk, Virginia, by British troops in January 1776 pushed Jay to support independence. With the outbreak of war, he worked tirelessly for the revolutionary cause and acted to suppress the Loyalists. Thus Jay evolved into first a moderate, and then an ardent Patriot, once he realized that all the colonies' efforts at reconciliation with Britain were fruitless, and that the struggle for independence which became the American Revolution was inevitable and necessary.

Roles in the American Revolution

Having established a reputation as a “reasonable moderate” in New York, Jay was elected to serve as delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses which debated whether the colonies should declare independence. He attempted to reconcile America with Britain, up until the Declaration of Independence. Jay's views became more radical as events unfolded; he became an ardent Patriot and was influential in moving New York towards independence.

Jay did not attend the Continental Congress as it debated the independence; he was needed back in New York. There he was quite busy:

• He served in the New York Provincial Congress and drafted the first state constitution.
• He served on the committee of correspondence which was attempting to coordinate the rebellious activities of the various colonial states with the actual fighting in Massachusetts.
• He served on the committee to detect and defeat conspiracies. This committee was active in gathering intelligence on British actions and in counter-intelligence about "loyalist" activities.
• He served as the first chief justice of the New York Supreme Court from April 1777 to December 1778.

Diplomat

Once he returned to America, Jay was chosen as President of the Continental Congress from December 10, 1778 to September 27, 1779. He then became one of the most important diplomats of the new nation, as minister plenipotentiary to Spain, and as peace commissioner (in which he negotiated treaties with Spain and France). In many ways, John Jay played an indispensable role as an American Patriot during the Revolutionary War and afterwards. As one of the most scholarly and dedicated of the “founders” of the United States, he was one of the three or four most important diplomats in “winning the peace.”

Slavery

Jay was a leader against slavery after 1777, when he drafted a state law to abolish slavery; it failed as did a second attempt in 1785. Jay was the founder and president of the New-York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been, or May be Liberated, or New York Manumission Society, in 1785. Led by Jay and other prominent politicians, including Hamilton, the Society organized boycotts against New York merchants and newspaper owners involved in the coastal and international slave trade. The Society had a special committee of antislavery militants who visited newspaper offices to warn publishers against accepting advertisements for the purchase or sale of slaves. Another committee kept a list of persons who either participated in or invested in the slave trade and urged members to boycott anyone listed. The Society was fighting an uphill battle, as historian Roger Kennedy reports, "Those [blacks] who remained in New York soon discovered that until the Manumission Society was organized, things had gotten worse, not better, for blacks. Despite the efforts of Burr, Hamilton, and Jay, the slave importers were busy. There was a 23 percent increase in slaves and a 33 percent increase in slaveholders in New York City in the 1790s." Nevertheless the Society helped enact the gradual emancipation of slaves in New York in 1799, which Jay signed into law as governor.

Jay was pushing at an open door; every member of the New York legislature (but one) had voted for some form of emancipation in 1785; they had differed on what rights to give the free blacks afterwards. Aaron Burr both supported this bill, and introduced an amendment calling for immediate abolition. The 1799 bill settled the matter by guaranteeing no rights at all. The 1799 "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" provided that, from July 4th of that year, all children born to slave parents would be free (subject only to apprenticeship) and that slave exports would be prohibited. These same children would be required to serve the mother’s owner until age twenty-eight for males and age twenty-five for females. The law thus defined the children of slaves as a type of indentured servant while slating them for eventual freedom. The last slaves were emancipated by July 4, 1827; the process was the largest emancipation in North America before 1861 In the close 1792 election, Jay's antislavery work hurt his election chances in upstate New York Dutch areas, where slavery was still practiced. In 1794 Jay angered southern slaveowners when, in the process of negotiating the Jay Treaty with the British, he dropped their demands for compensation for slaves owned by patriots who had been captured and carried away during the Revolution.

Jay made a practice of buying slaves, and then freeing them when they were adults and he judged their labors had been a reasonable return on their price; he owned eight in 1798, the year before the emancipation act was passed.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs

In 1784-89, Jay served as the second Secretary of Foreign Affairs, an office which after 1789 became Secretary of State. He sought to establish a strong and durable American foreign policy: to seek the recognition of the young independent nation by powerful and established foreign European powers; to establish a stable American currency and credit supported at first by financial loans from European banks; to pay back America's creditors and to quickly pay off the country's heavy War-debt; to secure the infant nation's territorial boundaries under the most-advantageous terms possible and against possible incursions by the Indians, Spanish, the French and the English; to solve regional difficulties among the colonies themselves; to secure Newfoundland fishing rights; to establish a robust maritime trade for American goods with new economic trading partners; to protect American trading vessels against piracy; to preserve America's reputation at home and abroad; and to hold the country together politically under the fledgling Articles of Confederation.

Jay's heavy responsibility was not, however, matched by a commensurate level of authority, which helped to convince him that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was unworkable. Thus, he joined Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in attacking the Articles. He argued in his Address to the People of the State of New-York, on the Subject of the Federal Constitution that the Articles of Confederation were too weak and ineffective a form of government. He contended that:

[The Congress under the Articles of Confederation] may make war, but are not empowered to raise men or money to carry it on—they may make peace, but without power to see the terms of it observed—they may form alliances, but without ability to comply with the stipulations on their part—they may enter into treaties of commerce, but without power to inforce them at home or abroad…—In short, they may consult, and deliberate, and recommend, and make requisitions, and they who please may regard them.

Kaminsky (2002) argues that Jay was the de facto "prime minister" with the primary goal of strengthening the fledgling national government. Jay believed that both at home and abroad Americans must adhere to moral principles, among them honesty, patriotism, duty, and hard work along with obedience to God's will. At the same time, he advocated economic and military strength for the United States and worked to avoid crippling foreign entanglements. Through his domestic policies, Jay hoped to remake Congress into a House of Commons. The weakness of Congress under the Articles, however, frustrated Jay, and by 1786 he became pessimistic about America's future.

Federalist Papers 1788

Jay did not attend the Constitutional Convention, but he joined Hamilton and Madison in aggressively arguing in favor of the creation of a new and more powerful, centralized, but nonetheless balanced system of government. Writing under the shared pseudonym of "Publius", they articulated this vision in the Federalist Papers, a series of eighty-five articles, written to persuade the citizenry to ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. Jay wrote five of these articles:

• Federalist #2 Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence
• Federalist #3 Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence (continued)
• Federalist #4 Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence (continued)
• Federalist #5 Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence (continued)
• Federalist #64 The Powers of the Senate

Jay's essays were shaped most powerfully by his training as a lawyer and his deep grasp of the importance of the figure of the lawgiver in the tradition of republican political thought. Jay combined such elements with a Christian aesthetic vision glorifying the idea of national union, a rhetorical synthesis central to The Federalist's popular appeal in political debate.

The Jay Court, 1789-1795

In 1789, George Washington nominated Jay as the first Chief Justice of the United States. As chief justice during 1789-95, John Jay was instrumental in establishing the internal procedures of the Supreme Court and setting legal precedents. Jay's most notable case was Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), in which Jay and the court affirmed that some of the state's sovereignty was subordinate to the United States Constitution. Unfavorable reaction to the decision led to adoption of the Eleventh Amendment which denied federal courts authority in suits by citizens against a state. Jay's decision set the groundwork for judicial activism under Chief Justice John Marshall in the early 1800s.

The Jay Treaty of 1794 with Britain

Relations with Britain verged on war in 1794. Madison proposed a trade war, "A direct system of commercial hoistility with Great Britain," assuming that Britain was so weakened by its war with France that it would agree to American terms and not declare war. Washington rejected that policy and sent Jay as a special envoy to Great Britain to negotiate a new treaty; Jay remained Chief Justice. Alexander Hamilton, always a close collaborator with Jay, selected Jay and wrote the instructions. The main goals were to avert war with Britain, settle financial and boundary issues left over from the Revolution, open trading opportunities with British colonies in the Caribbean, and establish friendly relations with America's chief trading partner. Jay achieved those goals in the Jay Treaty. The British also achieved their main goal, which was to keep the U.S. neutral in the ongoing war between Britain and France. Jay thought, and Washington agreed, that it was the best treaty he could negotiate, and Washington signed it. The Senate, however, would ratify only if a provision restricting American shipment of cotton were removed. When Washington consulted the British minister, it turned out that the British had no objection to removing the clause. Bradford Perkins wonders if a "more astute" negotiator might not have gotten better terms in the first place. The treaty did not resolve American grievances about neutral shipping rights and impressment, Elkins and McKitrick concluded that Britain would never have agreed to the neutral rights that Jefferson and Madison sought, and that apart from Jay "no other American could have got anything nearly as good.".

The Republicans denounced the treaty up and down the land, but Jay, as Chief Justice, decided not to take part in the debates. The failure to get compensation for slaves taken by the British during the Revolution, "was a major reason for the bitter Southern opposition." Jefferson and Madison, fearing a commercial alliance with aristocratic Britain might undercut republicanism, led the opposition. Jay complained he could travel from Boston to Philadelphia solely by the light of his burning effigies. However, led by Hamilton, the new Federalist party strongly backed Jay and Washington, and won the battle of public opinion. . Washington put his prestige on the line behind the treaty, and Hamilton and the Federalists mobilized public opinion. The Senate ratified the treaty by a 20-10 vote (just enough to meet the 2/3 requirement.) The treaty averted war, resolved the issues of the Revolution, gave America control over its western lands, expanded trade, and brought a decade of peace and prosperous trade between American and the world's strongest naval power, Britain. Peaceful relations broke down in 1805, followed by war in 1812.

Governor of New York

While in Britain, Jay was elected governor of New York State as a Federalist. He resigned from the Supreme Court, and served as governor until 1800. As Governor, he received a proposal from Hamilton to gerrymander New York for the Presidential election of that year; he endorsed the letter "Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt", and filed it without replying.President John Adams then renominated him to the US Supreme Court; the Senate quickly confirmed him, but he declined, citing his own poor health and the court's lack of "the energy, weight, and dignity which are essential to its affording due support to the national government."

Despite Federalist nomination as governor in 1802, Jay declined and retired to the life of a gentleman farmer in Westchester County, New York. His home and part of his farm are now operated as the John Jay Homestead [3] by the New York Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, and is located on NY state route 22 in Katonah, near Bedford.

Jay died at home on May 15, 1829. He was buried in a family plot on his son Peter's farm in Rye, New York. This home today is a part of the Jay Heritage Center, located at 210 Boston Post Road in Rye. It is also open as a museum.

Jay Heritage Center (childhood home of John Jay)
210 Boston Post Road
Rye, New York 10580

John Jay Homestead State Historic Site
400 Route 22 (Jay Street)
Katonah, New York 10536

• See aerial view

Religion

Jay had been a warden of Trinity Church, New York since 1785; and, as Congress's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, supported the proposal after the revolution that the Archbishop of Canterbury approve the ordination of bishops for the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.

In New York, Jay argued unsuccessfully in the provincial convention for a prohibition against Catholics holding office. In February 1788, the New York legislature under Jay's guidance approved an act requiring officeholders to renounce all foreign authorities "in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil", an "anti-Catholic" act designed to bar Catholics from holding public offices.

Trivia

• The Towns of Jay, New York and Jay, Vermont, and Jay County, Indiana are named after him. In 1964, the City University of New York's College of Police Science was officially renamed the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
• James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy was based on the author's conversations with Jay about his service on the committee on conspiracies during the Revolution. The main character is based on Enoch Crosby, who helped arrest Loyalists attempting to form militia regiments.
• Jay was named first among Columbia University's 250 Greatest Alumni by the Columbia Spectator. A large residence hall for undergraduates at Columbia is named for him, as well as the John Jay Award for alumni of Columbia College, and the John Jay Scholars program for exceptional students in the College. Columbia also has a John Jay professorship in classics.
• Columbia's most selective undergraduate merit scholarship (winners are designated John Jay Scholars) is named after him.
• Graffiti appearing near Jay's house after the 1794 treaty with Britain: "Damn John Jay. Damn everyone that won't damn John Jay. Damn everyone that won't put up the lights in the windows and sit up all nights damning John Jay."
• The John Jay Center on the campus of Robert Morris University is named for him.

See also

• United States Supreme Court cases during the Jay Court
• New York Manumission Society

References

• Bemis, Samuel F. Jay's Treaty: A Study in Commerce and Diplomacy (1923)
• Brecher, Frank W. Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance. Praeger, 2003. 327 pp.
• Casto, William R. The Supreme Court in the Early Republic: The Chief Justiceships of John Jay and Oliver Ellsworth. U. of South Carolina Press, 1995. 267 pp.
• Combs, Jerald. A. The Jay Treaty: Political Background of Founding Fathers (1970) (ISBN 0-520-01573-8); concludes the Federalists "followed the proper policy" because the treaty preserved peace with Britain
• Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800. (1994), detailed political history
• Estes, Todd. "John Jay, the Concept of Deference, and the Transformation of Early American Political Culture." Historian (2002) 65(2): 293-317. ISSN 0018-2370 Fulltext in Swetswise, Ingenta and Ebsco
• Ferguson, Robert A. "The Forgotten Publius: John Jay and the Aesthetics of Ratification." Early American Literature (1999) 34(3): 223-240. ISSN 0012-8163 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ebsco
• Johnson, Herbert A. "John Jay and the Supreme Court." New York History 2000 81(1): 59-90. ISSN 0146-437X
• Kaminski, John P. "Honor and Interest: John Jay's Diplomacy During the Confederation." New York History (2002) 83(3): 293-327. ISSN 0146-437X
• Kaminski, John P. "Shall We Have a King? John Jay and the Politics of Union." New York History (2000) 81(1): 31-58. ISSN 0146-437X
• Klein, Milton M. "John Jay and the Revolution." New York History (2000) 81(1): 19-30. ISSN 0146-437X
• Littlefield, Daniel C. "John Jay, the Revolutionary Generation, and Slavery" New York History 2000 81(1): 91-132. ISSN 0146-437X
• Monaghan, Frank. John Jay: Defender of Liberty 1972. on abolitionism
• Morris, Richard B. The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence 1965.
• Morris, Richard B. Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries 1973. chapter on Jay
• Morris, Richard B. Witness at the Creation; Hamilton, Madison, Jay and the Constitution 1985.
• Morris, Richard B. ed. John Jay: The Winning of the Peace 1980.
• Stahr, Walter (2005). John Jay: Founding Father. ISBN 1-85285-444-8

Primary sources

• Morris, Richard B. ed. John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary; Unpublished Papers, 1745-1780 1975.
• Landa M. Freeman, Louise V. North, and Janet M. Wedge, eds. Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay: Correspondence by or to the First Chief Justice of the United States and His Wife (2005)

External links

• Richard Morris, "John Jay and the Constitution"
• Works by John Jay at Project Gutenberg
• Jake Sudderth, "John Jay and Slavery (2002) online from Papers of John Jay
• The John Jay School of Diplomacy and International Affairs at Euclid University extension
• Columbia University's Jay Papers Project
• Parts of this article were incorporated from the public domain source Today in History: December 12 on the Library of Congress's American Memory website.
• D/Documents/17771819.JOH.pdf Jay documents on anti-slavery
• John Jay Homestead State Historic Site web page
• John Jay Homestead, Friends of
• John Jay at Find-A-Grave

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