Concept

John Jay

Overview

John Jay (December 23 [O.S. December 12], 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United States and from 1795 to 1801 as the second governor of New York. Jay directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party after the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788.

Jay was born into a wealthy family of merchants and New York City government officials of French Huguenot and Dutch descent. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence, organizing American opposition to British policies such as the Intolerable Acts in the leadup to the American Revolution. Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and to the Second Continental Congress, where he served as its president. From 1779 to 1782, Jay served as the ambassador to Spain; he persuaded Spain to provide financial aid to the fledgling United States. He also served as a negotiator of the Treaty of Paris, in which Britain recognized American independence. Following the end of the war, Jay served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, directing United States foreign policy under the Articles of Confederation government. He also served as the first secretary of state on an interim basis.

A proponent of strong, centralized government, Jay worked to ratify the United States Constitution in New York in 1788. He was a co-author of The Federalist Papers along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and wrote five of the eighty-five essays. After the establishment of the new federal government, Jay was appointed by President George Washington the first Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1795. The Jay Court experienced a light workload, deciding just four cases over six years. In 1794, while serving as chief justice, Jay negotiated the highly controversial Jay Treaty with Britain. Jay received a handful of electoral votes in three of the first four presidential elections but never undertook a serious bid for the presidency.

Jay served as the governor of New York from 1795 to 1801. Although he successfully passed gradual emancipation legislation as governor of the state, he owned five slaves as late as 1800. In the waning days of President John Adams' administration, Jay was confirmed by the Senate for another term as chief justice, but he declined the position and retired to his farm in Westchester County, New York.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where John Jay is discussed.

14, 1787 278 To John Jay, Aug. 15, 1787 280 To James Madison, Aug. 15, 1787 281 To the Count del Vermi, Aug. 15, 1787 282 To John Adams, Aug. 30, 1787 285 To Monsieur le Comte de Montmorin, Sept. 8, 1787 289 To Andrew Limozin, Sept.
Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Library Edition - Vol. 6
names the idea; opens on it
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
TO DR. GEM LETTER XIII. TO GENERAL KNOX, September 12,1789 LETTER XIV. TO E. RUTLEDGE, September 18, 1789 LETTER XV. TO JOHN JAY, September 19, 1789 LETTER XVI. TO MR. NECKER, September 26,1789 LETTER XVII. TO JOHN JAY, September 30, 1789 LETTER XVIII. TO THE PRESIDENT, December 15,1789 LETTER XIX. TO HENRY LAURENS, ESQUIRE, March 31, 1790 LETTER XX. TO MR. VANDERKEMP, March 31, 1799 LETTER XXI. TO GEORGE JOY, March…
Thomas Jefferson, The Memoirs, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson
names the idea
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
Beer, George L. _British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765._ New York: 1933 [1907]. Bemis, S. F. _The Diplomacy of the American Revolution._ New York; 1935. (Brilliant exposition of French, Spanish, Austrian, and other diplomacy relative to the Revolution. Should be supplemented by Frank Monaghan's _John Jay_.) Bloch, Léon. _La philosophie de Newton._ Paris: 1908. (A comprehensive, standard exposition.) Bosker, Aisso…
Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
Goschen’s “Theory of Foreign Exchanges” (eighth edition, 1875). J. Caird’s “Landed Interest” (fourth edition, 1880), treating of English land and the food-supply. W. G. Sumner’s “History of American Currency” (1874). John Jay Knox’s “United States Notes” (1884). Jevons’s “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange” (1875). Tooke and Newmarch’s “History of Prices” (1837-1856), in six volumes. Leroy-Beaulieu’s “Traité de la…
John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy
names the idea
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
The royal governors found in this board ready sympathizers, and were not slow to report their grievances, and to insist upon more stringent regulations for enforcing obedience. Some of the retaliative measures employed were the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the abridgment of the freedom of the press and the prohibition of elections. But the colonists generally succeeded in having their own way in the end…
Edmund Burke, Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America
Read the chapter · Open in the reader

Philosophers who discussed John Jay

Thomas Paine

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

James Madison

Place in the tradition

Part of American philosophy.

Explore John Jay in the interactive graph →