Information AboutJohn Jay |
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 difficult and dangerous years of the American Revolutionary War , he was an ambassador to Spain and France , helping to fashion American foreign policy and to secure favorable peace terms from the British and French. He cowrote the '' Federalist Papers '' with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison . Jay also served on the U.S. Supreme Court as the first, as well as the youngest, Chief Justice Of The United States from 1789 to 1794. FAMOUS FAMILY His family, descended from French Huguenot stock, was prominent in New York City. His maternal grandfather was Jacobus Van Cortlandt who was mayor of New York City . Jacobus was was a brother of Stephanus Van Cortlandt , while a sister of his maternal grandfather was married to director Jeremias Van Jacobus Rensselaer . EARLY LIFE John Jay was born on December 12 , 1745 to a wealthy family of merchants in New York City in the Province of New York . Jay attended King's College, which later renamed Columbia University , and then he began the practice of law in 1768, as one of early New York City's first few licensed lawyers, with his relative by marriage, Robert Livingston . Building up a successful and profitable law practice, Jay also engaged in Land Speculation with his profits, until the law practice was virtually shut down by the British Stamp Act and the colonial boycott. With little or nothing to do, Jay took a “vacation” from watching over the law practice, and went riding in the countryside for a few months. This short, peaceful interlude was interrupted by Jay's first public role as secretary to the New York Committee Of Correspondence , where Jay represented the conservative faction that was interested in protecting property rights and in preserving the rule of law and that feared the growing prospect of “mob rule” during the increasingly turbulent and agitated colonial period which led up to the Revolutionary War. However, in the next two years Jay became first a moderate, and then an ardent Patriot , once he realized that all the colony's efforts at reconciliation with the “home-country” of England were fruitless, and that Revolution and independence were 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 Congress es which debated whether the colonies should declare independence from Britain. 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 Declaration Of Independence , believing himself to be more badly needed back in New York. There he was quite busy:
Once he returned to the Continental Congress, Jay was sufficiently respected to be chosen its (youngest) President from December 10 , 1778 to September 27 , 1779 . Jay then became one of the most important diplomats of the Revolutionary Crisis 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 perhaps as instrumental in “winning the peace” as George Washington was in winning the War. SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS In 1784, Jay was named by Congress as the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs, an office which would later become known as the . In short, Jay had a large area of responsibility. Jay's heavy responsibility was not, however, matched by a commensurate level of authority, which helped to convince Jay that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was unworkable. Thus, Jay joined Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in attacking the Articles. Jay 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:
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:
CHIEF JUSTICE In 1789, George Washington nominated Jay as the first Chief Justice Of The United States . Jay's most notable case was '' Chisholm V. Georgia (1793) '', in which Jay and the court affirmed that some of the state's sovereignty were 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. In 1794, Washington sent Jay as a special envoy to Great Britain to negotiate a new treaty and thereby avert war. The treaty he returned with was known as Jay's Treaty . Jay thought, and Washington agreed, that it was the best treaty he could negotiate, and it was signed by Washington and ratified by the Senate (albeit with reservations and amendments). Nonetheless, unfavorable reaction to the treaty made Jay so unpopular that he once commented that he could travel from Boston to Philadelphia solely by the light of his burning effigies. It certainly ruined Jay's chances for the presidency. GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK While in Britain, he was elected governor of New York State . He resigned from the Court, and served as governor of New York until 1800. 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 winning a second term as Governor in 1802, Jay declined and retired to the life of a gentleman farmer in , near Bedford . John 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. VIEWS Jay was reported to hold anti- Slavery views [http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/05/03/4095f439f3416 . QUOTES
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