John Jay | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of John Jay byGilbert Stuart, 1794 | |
| 1st Chief Justice of the United States | |
| In office October 19, 1789 – June 29, 1795 | |
| Nominated by | George Washington |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | John Rutledge |
| 2nd Governor of New York | |
| In office July 1, 1795 – June 30, 1801 | |
| Lieutenant | Stephen Van Rensselaer |
| Preceded by | George Clinton |
| Succeeded by | George Clinton |
| ActingUnited States Secretary of State | |
| In office September 15, 1789 – March 22, 1790 | |
| President | George Washington |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Jefferson (as first secretary of state) |
| United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs | |
| Acting July 27 – September 15, 1789 (1789-07-27 –1789-09-15) | |
| President | George Washington |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| In office December 21, 1784 – March 3, 1789 | |
| Appointed by | Congress of the Confederation |
| Preceded by | Robert R. Livingston |
| Succeeded by | Himself (acting) |
| United States Minister toSpain | |
| In office September 27, 1779 – May 20, 1782 | |
| Appointed by | Second Continental Congress |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | William Short |
| 6th President of the Continental Congress | |
| In office December 10, 1778 – September 28, 1779 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Laurens |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Huntington(Confederation Congress) |
| Delegate from New Yorkto theSecond Continental Congress | |
| In office December 7, 1778 – September 28, 1779 | |
| Preceded by | Philip Livingston |
| Succeeded by | Robert R. Livingston |
| In office May 10, 1775 – May 22, 1776 | |
| Preceded by | Seat established |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| Delegate fromNew Yorkto theFirst Continental Congress | |
| In office September 5 – October 26, 1774 (1774-09-05 –1774-10-26) | |
| Preceded by | Seat established |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1745-12-23)December 23, 1745 New York City,Province of New York |
| Died | May 17, 1829(1829-05-17) (aged 83) Bedford, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6, includingPeter andWilliam |
| Relatives | Jay family Van Cortlandt family |
| Education | King's College (BA,MA) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg) United Colonies of North America |
| Branch/service |  Continental Army |
| Rank |  Colonel |
| Unit |  2nd New York Regiment |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War |
John Jay (December 23 [O.S. December 12], 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of theTreaty of Paris, and aFounding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the firstchief justice of the United States and from 1795 to 1801 as the secondgovernor of New York. Jay directedU.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of theFederalist Party after the ratification of theUnited States Constitution in 1788.
Jay was born into a wealthy family of merchants and New York City government officials ofFrenchHuguenot andDutch descent. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence, organizing American opposition toBritish policies such as theIntolerable Acts in the leadup to theAmerican Revolution. Jay was elected to theFirst Continental Congress, where he signed theContinental Association, and to theSecond Continental Congress, where he served asits president. From 1779 to 1782, Jay served as theambassador to Spain; he persuadedSpain to provide financial aid to the fledgling United States. He also served as a negotiator of theTreaty of Paris, in which Britain recognized American independence. Following the end of the war, Jay served asSecretary of Foreign Affairs, directing United States foreign policy under theArticles of Confederation government. He also served as the firstSecretary 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 ofThe Federalist Papers along withAlexander Hamilton andJames Madison, and wrote five of the eighty-five essays. After the establishment of the new federal government, Jay was appointed by PresidentGeorge Washington the first Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1795. TheJay Court experienced a light workload, deciding just four cases over six years. In 1794, while serving as chief justice, Jay negotiated the highly controversialJay Treaty with Britain. Jay received a handful ofelectoral 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 passedgradual emancipation legislation as governor of the state, he owned five slaves as late as 1800. In the waning days of PresidentJohn Adams' administration, Jay was confirmed by the Senate for another term as chief justice, but he declined the position and retired to his farm inWestchester County, New York.
Jay was born on December 23, 1745 (following theGregorian calendar, December 12 following theJulian calendar), in New York City; three months later the family moved toRye, New York. His father Peter Jay had retired from business following asmallpox epidemic; two of his children contracted the disease and suffered total blindness.[1]
The Jays, a prominent merchant family in New York City, were descendants of Huguenots who had sought refuge in New York to escape religious persecution in France. In 1685, theEdict of Nantes had beenrevoked, thereby abolishing the civil and legal rights ofProtestants, and the French Crown proceeded to confiscate their property. Among those affected was Jay's paternal grandfather, Auguste Jay. He moved from France toCharleston, South Carolina, and then New York, where he built a successful merchant empire.[2] Jay's father, Peter Jay (1704–1782), born in New York City in 1704, became a wealthy trader in furs, wheat, timber, and other commodities.[3]
Jay's mother was Mary Van Cortlandt (1705–1777), of Dutch ancestry, who had married Peter Jay in 1728 in the Dutch Church.[3] They had ten children together, seven of whom survived into adulthood.[4] Mary's father,Jacobus Van Cortlandt, was born inNew Amsterdam in 1658. Cortlandt served in the New York Assembly, was twice elected asmayor of New York City, and held a variety of judicial and military offices. Both Mary and his son Frederick Cortlandt married into the Jay family.
Jay spent his childhood in Rye. He was educated there by his mother until he was eight years old, when he was sent toNew Rochelle to study under Anglican priest Pierre Stoupe.[5] In 1756, after three years, he returned to homeschooling in Rye under the tutelage of his mother and George Murray. In 1760, 14-year-old Jay entered King's College (later renamedColumbia College) in New York City.[6][7] There he made many influential friends, including his closest friend,Robert Livingston.[8] Jay took the same political stand as his father, a staunchWhig.[9] Upon graduating in 1764[10] he became a law clerk for Benjamin Kissam, a prominent lawyer, politician, and sought-after instructor in the law. In addition to Jay, Kissam's students includedLindley Murray.[4] Three years later, in 1767, as was the tradition at the time, Jay was promoted toMaster of Arts.[11]
In 1768, afterreading law and beingadmitted to the bar of New York, Jay, with the money from the government, established a legal practice and worked there until he opened his own law office in 1771.[4] He was a member of the New YorkCommittee of Correspondence in 1774[12] and became its secretary, which was his first public role in the revolution.
Jay represented the "Radical Whig" faction that was interested in protectingproperty rights and in preserving the rule of law, while resisting what it regarded as British violations of colonial rights.[13] This faction feared the prospect ofmob rule. Jay believed the British tax measures were wrong and thought Americans were morally and legally justified in resisting them, but as a delegate to theFirst Continental Congress in 1774,[14] Jay sided with those who wanted conciliation with Parliament. Events such as theburning of Norfolk in January 1776 pushed Jay to support thePatriot camp. With the outbreak of theAmerican Revolutionary War, he worked tirelessly for the revolutionary cause and acted to suppressLoyalists. Jay evolved into first a moderate and then an ardentPatriot, because he had decided that all the colonies' efforts at reconciliation with Britain were fruitless and that the struggle for independence was inevitable.[15] In 1780, Jay was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[16]
On April 28, 1774, Jay married Sarah Van Brugh Livingston, eldest daughter of theNew Jersey GovernorWilliam Livingston. At the time of the marriage, Livingston was seventeen years old and Jay was twenty-eight.[17] Together they had six children:Peter Augustus, Susan, Maria, Ann,William, and Sarah Louisa. She accompanied Jay to Spain and later was with him in Paris, where they and their children resided with Benjamin Franklin at Passy.[18] Jay's brother-in-law Henry Brock Livingston was lost at sea through the disappearance of theContinental Navy shipSaratoga during the Revolutionary War. While Jay was in Paris, as a diplomat to France, his father died. This event forced extra responsibility onto Jay. His brother and sister Peter and Anna, both blinded by smallpox in childhood,[19] became his responsibility. His brother Augustus suffered from mental disabilities that required Jay to provide both financial and emotional support. His brother Fredrick was in constant financial trouble, causing Jay additional stress. Meanwhile, his brother James was in direct opposition in the political arena, joining the Loyalist faction of the New York State Senate at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, which made him an embarrassment to Jay's family.[20]
From the age of three months old until he attended Kings College in 1760, Jay was raised in Rye,[21] on a farm acquired by his father Peter in 1745 that overlookedLong Island Sound.[22] After negotiating the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, Jay returned to his childhood home to celebrate with his family and friends in July 1784.[23] Jay inherited this property upon the death of his older brother Peter in 1813 after Jay had already established himself at Katonah. He conveyed the Rye property to his eldest son, Peter Augustus Jay, in 1822.
What remains of the original 400-acre (1.6 km2) property is a 23-acre (93,000 m2) parcel called theJay Estate. In the center rises the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House, built by Peter Augustus Jay over the footprint of his father's ancestral home, "The Locusts"; pieces of the original 18th-century farmhouse, were incorporated into the 19th-century structure. Stewardship of the site and several of its buildings for educational use was entrusted in 1990 by the New York State Board of Regents to theJay Heritage Center.[24][25] In 2013, the non-profit Jay Heritage Center was also awarded stewardship and management of the site's landscape which includes a meadow and gardens.[26][27]
As an adult, Jay inherited land from his grandparents and built Bedford House, located nearKatonah, New York, where he moved in 1801 with his wife Sarah to pursue retirement. This property passed down to their younger son William Jay and his descendants. It was acquired by New York State in 1958 and named "The John Jay Homestead". Today this 62 acre park is preserved as theJohn Jay Homestead State Historic Site.[28]
Both homes in Rye and Katonah have been designatedNational Historic Landmarks and are open to the public for tours and programs.
Every man of every color and description has a natural right to freedom.
The Jay family participated significantly in theslave trade, as investors and traders as well as slaveholders. For example, the New York Slavery Records Index records Jay's father and paternal grandfather as investors in at least 11 slave ships that delivered more than 120 slaves to New York between 1717 and 1733.[29] John Jay himself purchased, owned, rented out andmanumitted at least 17 slaves during his lifetime.[30] He is not known to have owned or invested in anyslave ships.[29] In 1783, one of Jay's slaves, a woman namedAbigail, attempted to escape in Paris, but was found, imprisoned, and died soon after from illness.[30] Jay was irritated by her escape attempt, suggesting that she be left in prison for some time. To his biographer Walter Stahr, this reaction indicates that "however much [Jay] disliked slavery in the abstract, he could not understand why one ofhis slaves would run away."[31]
Despite being a founder of theNew York Manumission Society, Jay is recorded as owning five slaves in the 1790 and 1800 U.S. censuses. He freed all but one by the 1810 census. Rather than advocating for immediate emancipation, he continued to purchase enslaved people and tomanumit them once he considered their work to "have afforded a reasonable retribution."[32] Abolitionism following the American Revolution contained someQuaker andMethodist principles of Christian brotherly love but was also influenced by concerns about the growth of the Black population within the United States and the "degradation" of Black people under slavery.[33][34]
In 1774, Jay drafted the "Address to the People of Great Britain",[35] which compared American slavery to unpopular British policies.[36] Such comparisons between American slavery and British policies had been made regularly by Patriots starting withJames Otis Jr., and took little account of the far harsher reality of slavery.[37] Jay was the founder and president of the New York Manumission Society in 1785, which organized boycotts against newspapers and merchants involved in the slave trade and provided legal counsel to free Blacks.[38]
The Society helped enact the 1799 law for gradual emancipation of slaves in New York, which Jay signed into law as governor. "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" provided that, from July 4, 1799, all children born to slave parents would be free (subject to lengthy apprenticeships) and that slave exports would be prohibited. These same children would be required to serve the mother's owner until age 28 for males and age 25 for females. It did not provide government payment of compensation to slave owners but failed to free people who were already enslaved as of 1799. The act provided legal protection and assistance for free Blacks kidnapped for the purposes of being sold into slavery.[39] All slaves were emancipated by July 4, 1827.[40][41][42][43][44]
In the close1792 gubernatorial election, Jay's antislavery work was thought to hurt his election chances in upstate New York Dutch areas, where slavery was still practiced.[45] In 1794, in the process of negotiating the Jay Treaty with the British, Jay angered many Southern slave owners when he dropped their demands for compensation for American slaves who had been freed and transported by the British to other areas after the Revolution.[46]
Jay was a member of theChurch of England and later of theProtestant Episcopal Church in America after the American Revolution. Since 1785, Jay had been a warden ofTrinity Church, New York. As Congress's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he supported the proposal after the Revolution that theArchbishop of Canterbury approve the ordination of bishops for the Episcopal Church in the United States.[47] He argued unsuccessfully in the provincial convention for a prohibition againstCatholics holding office.[48] While considering New York's Constitution, Jay also suggested erecting "a wall of brass around the country for the exclusion of Catholics."[49]
Jay, who served as vice-president (1816–1821) and president (1821–1827) of theAmerican Bible Society,[50] believed that the most effective way of ensuring world peace was through propagation of the Christian gospel. In a letter addressed to Pennsylvania House of Representatives memberJohn Murray, dated October 12, 1816, Jay wrote, "Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war. Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."[51] He also expressed a belief that the moral precepts of Christianity were necessary for good government, saying, "No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian Religion. Should our Republic ever forget this fundamental precept of governance, we will then, be surely doomed."[52][better source needed]
Those who own the country ought to govern it.
Having established a reputation as a reasonable moderate in New York, Jay was elected to serve as delegate to the First and SecondContinental Congresses which debated whether the colonies should declare independence. Jay was originally in favor of rapprochement. He helped write theOlive Branch Petition which urged the British government to reconcile with the colonies. As the necessity and inevitability of war became evident, Jay threw his support behind the revolution and theDeclaration of Independence. Jay's views became more radical as events unfolded; he became an ardent separatist and attempted to move New York towards that cause.
In 1774, upon the conclusion of the Continental Congress, Jay elected to return to New York.[54] There he served on New York City'sCommittee of Sixty,[55] where he attempted to enforce a nonimportation agreement passed by the First Continental Congress.[54] In 1775, theNew York Provincial Congress appointed Jay as commander of theSecond Regiment of theNew York Citymilitia.[56] Jay was elected to the thirdNew York Provincial Congress, where he drafted theConstitution of New York, 1777;[57] his duties as a New York Congressman prevented him from voting on or signing the Declaration of Independence.[54] Jay served for several months on the New York Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies, which monitored and combated Loyalist activity.[58] New York's Provincial Congress elected Jay the Chief Justice of theNew York Supreme Court of Judicature on May 8, 1777,[54][59] which he served on for two years.[54]
The Continental Congress turned to Jay, a political adversary of the previous presidentHenry Laurens, only three days after Jay became a delegate and elected him President of the Continental Congress. In previous congresses, Jay had moved from a position of seeking conciliation with Britain to advocating separation sooner than Laurens. Eight states voted for Jay and four for Laurens. Jay served asPresident of the Continental Congress from December 10, 1778, to September 28, 1779. It was a largely ceremonial position without real power, and indicated the resolve of the majority and the commitment of the Continental Congress.[60]
On September 27, 1779, Jay was appointedMinister to Spain. His mission was to get financial aid, commercial treaties and recognition of American independence. The royal court of Spain refused to officially receive Jay as the Minister of the United States,[61] as it refused to recognize American independence until 1783, fearing that such recognition could spark revolution intheir own colonies. Jay, however, convinced Spain to loan $170,000 to the U.S. government.[62] He departed Spain on May 20, 1782.[61]
On June 23, 1782, Jay reached Paris, where negotiations to end theAmerican Revolutionary War would take place.[63]Benjamin Franklin was the most experienced diplomat of the group, and thus Jay wished to lodge near him, in order to learn from him.[64] The United States agreed to negotiate with Britain separately, then with France.[65] In July 1782, theEarl of Shelburne offered the Americans independence, but Jay rejected the offer on the grounds that it did not recognize American independence during the negotiations; Jay's dissent halted negotiations until the fall.[65] The final treaty dictated that the United States would haveNewfoundland fishing rights, Britain would acknowledge the United States as independent and would withdraw its troops in exchange for the United States ending the seizure ofLoyalist property and honoring private debts.[65][66] The treaty granted the United States independence, but left many border regions in dispute, and many of its provisions were not enforced.[65] John Adams credited Jay with having the central role in the negotiations noting he was "of more importance than any of the rest of us."[67]
Jay's peacemaking skills were further applauded by New York MayorJames Duane on October 4, 1784. At that time, Jay was summoned from his family seat in Rye to receive "the Freedom" of New York City as a tribute to his successful negotiations.[68]
Jay served as the secondSecretary of Foreign Affairs from 1784 to 1789, when in September, Congress passed a law giving certain additional domestic responsibilities to the new department and changing its name to the Department of State. Jay served as actingSecretary of State until March 22, 1790. Jay 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 fledglingArticles of Confederation.[69]
With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country, to one united people; a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established their general Liberty and Independence.
Jay believed his responsibility was not matched by a commensurate level of authority, so he joinedAlexander Hamilton andJames Madison in advocating for a stronger government than the one dictated by theArticles of Confederation.[4][73] 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 an ineffective form of government, contending:
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 [e]nforce them at home or abroad ... —In short, they may consult, and deliberate, and recommend, and make requisitions, and they who please may regard them.[74]
Jay did not attend theConstitutional Convention but joined Hamilton and Madison in aggressively arguing in favor of the creation of a new and more powerful, centralized but balanced system of government. Writing under the shared pseudonym of "Publius",[75] they articulated this vision inThe Federalist Papers, a series of eighty-five articles written to persuade New York state convention members to ratify the proposedConstitution of the United States.[76] Jay wrote the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixty-fourth articles. The second through the fifth are on the topic "Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence". The sixty-fourth discusses the role of the Senate in making foreign treaties.[77]
In September 1789, Jay declinedGeorge Washington's offer of the position of Secretary of State (which was technically a new position but would have continued Jay's service as Secretary of Foreign Affairs). Washington responded by offering him the new title, which Washington stated "must be regarded as the keystone of our political fabric," asChief Justice of the United States, which Jay accepted. Washington officially nominated Jay on September 24, 1789, the same day he signed theJudiciary Act of 1789 (which created the position of Chief Justice) into law.[73] Jay was unanimously confirmed by theUS Senate on September 26, 1789; Washington signed and sealed Jay's commission the same day. Jay swore his oath of office on October 19, 1789.[78] Washington also nominatedJohn Rutledge,William Cushing,Robert Harrison,James Wilson, andJohn Blair Jr. asAssociate Judges.[79] Harrison declined the appointment, however, and Washington appointedJames Iredell to fill the final seat on the Court.[80] Jay would later serve withThomas Johnson,[citation needed] who took Rutledge's seat,[81] andWilliam Paterson, who took Johnson's seat.[81] While Chief Justice, Jay was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1790.[82] Jay served as Circuit Justice for theEastern Circuit from the Spring of 1790, until the Spring of 1792.[83] He served as Circuit Justice for the Middle Circuit from the Spring of 1793, until the Spring of 1794.[83]
The Court's business through its first three years primarily involved the establishment of rules and procedure; reading of commissions and admission of attorneys to the bar; and the Justices' duties in "riding circuit", or presiding over cases in thecircuit courts of the various federal judicial districts. No convention then precluded the involvement of Supreme Court Justices in political affairs, and Jay used his light workload as a Justice to participate freely in the business of Washington's administration.
Jay used his circuit riding to spread word throughout the states of Washington's commitment to neutrality and published reports of French ministerEdmond-Charles Genet's campaign to win American support for France. However, Jay also established an early precedent for the Court's independence in 1790, when Treasury SecretaryAlexander Hamilton wrote to Jay requesting the Court's endorsement of legislation that would assume the debts of the states. Jay replied that the Court's business was restricted to ruling on the constitutionality of cases being tried before it and refused to allow it to take a position for or against the legislation.[84]
For his work as chief justice, Jay was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Laws degree by theUniversity of Edinburgh on May 17, 1792.[85][86]
[T]he people are the sovereign of this country, and consequently ... fellow citizens and joint sovereigns cannot be degraded by appearing with each other in their own courts to have their controversies determined. The people have reason to prize and rejoice in such valuable privileges, and they ought not to forget that nothing but the free course of constitutional law and government can ensure the continuance and enjoyment of them. For the reasons before given, I am clearly of opinion that a State is suable by citizens of another State.
The Jay Court's first case did not occur until early in the Court's third term, withWest v. Barnes (1791). The Court had an early opportunity to establish the principle ofjudicial review in the United States with the case, which involved aRhode Island state statute permitting the lodging of a debt payment inpaper currency. Instead of grappling with the constitutionality of the law, however, the Court unanimously decided the case on procedural grounds, strictly interpreting statutory requirements.[79]
Hayburn's Case (1792) concerned whether a federal statute could require the courts to decide whether petitioningveterans of theAmerican Revolution qualified for pensions, a non-judicial function. The Jay Court wrote a letter to President Washington to say that determining whether petitioners qualified was an "act ... not of a judicial nature"[88] and that because the statute allowed thelegislative branch and theexecutive branch to revise the court's ruling, the statute violated theseparation of powers of theUS Constitution.[88][89][90]
InChisholm v. Georgia (1793), the Jay Court had to decide if suits against state governments by state citizens could be heard in federal court.[91] In a 4–1 ruling (Iredell dissented, and Rutledge did not participate), the Jay Court ruled in favor of twoSouth CarolinaLoyalists whose land had been seized by Georgia. That ruling sparked debate, as it implied that old debts must be paid to Loyalists.[79] The ruling was overturned when theEleventh Amendment was ratified, which stated that a state could not be sued by a citizen of another state or foreign country.[4][79] The case was brought again to the Supreme Court inGeorgia v. Brailsford, and the Court reversed its decision.[92][93] However, Jay's originalChisholm decision established that states were subject tojudicial review.[91][94]
InGeorgia v. Brailsford (1794), the Court upheld jury instructions stating "you [jurors] have ... a right to take upon yourselves to ... determine the law as well as the fact in controversy." Jay noted for the jury the "good old rule, that on questions of fact, it is the province of the jury, on questions of law, it is the province of the court to decide," but that amounted to no more than a presumption that the judges were correct about the law. Ultimately, "both objects [the law and the facts] are lawfully within your power of decision."[95][96]
In 1792, Jay was theFederalistcandidate for governor of New York, but he was defeated byDemocratic-RepublicanGeorge Clinton. Jay received more votes than George Clinton; but, on technicalities, the votes ofOtsego,Tioga andClinton counties were disqualified and, therefore, not counted, giving George Clinton a slight plurality.[97] The State constitution said that the cast votes shall be delivered to thesecretary of state "by the sheriff or his deputy"; but, for example, the Otsego County Sheriff's term had expired, so that legally, at the time of the election, the office of Sheriff was vacant and the votes could not be brought to the State capital. Clinton partisans in the State legislature, the State courts, and Federal offices were determined not to accept any argument that this would, in practice, violate the constitutional right to vote of the voters in these counties. Consequently, these votes were disqualified.[98]
Relations with Britain verged on war in 1794. British exports dominated the U.S. market, while American exports were hamstrung by British trade restrictions and tariffs. Britain still occupied northern forts that they had agreed to abandon in the Treaty of Paris, as the Americans had refused to pay debts owed to British creditors or halt the confiscation of Loyalist properties. In addition, theRoyal Navy impressed U.S. sailors who were alleged to be British deserters from the Navy, and seized almost 300 American merchant ships who were trading with theFrench West Indies between 1793 and 1794.[99] Madison proposed a trade war, "[a] direct system of commercial hostility 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.[100]
Washington rejected that policy and sent Jay as a special envoy to Great Britain to negotiate a new treaty; Jay remained Chief Justice. Washington hadAlexander Hamilton write instructions for Jay that were to guide him in the negotiations.[101] In March 1795, the resulting treaty, known as theJay Treaty, was brought toPhiladelphia.[101] When Hamilton, in an attempt to maintain good relations, informed Britain that the United States would not join theSecond League of Armed Neutrality, Jay lost most of his leverage. The treaty resulted in Britain withdrawing from their northwestern forts[102] and granted the U.S. "most favored nation" status.[99] U.S. merchants were also granted restricted commercial access to theBritish West Indies.[99]
The treaty did not resolve American grievances about neutral shipping rights and impressment,[46] and theDemocratic-Republicans denounced it, but Jay, as Chief Justice, decided not to take part in the debates.[103] The Royal Navy's continued impressment of American citizens would be a cause of theWar of 1812.[104] The failure to receive compensation for American slaves which were freed by the British and transported away during the Revolutionary War "was a major reason for the bitter Southern opposition".[105] Jefferson and Madison, fearing that a commercial alliance with aristocratic Britain might undercut American republicanism, led the opposition. However, Washington put his prestige behind the treaty, and Hamilton and the Federalists mobilized public opinion.[106] The Senate ratified the treaty by a 20–10 vote, exactly by the two-thirds majority required.[99][102]
Democratic-Republicans were incensed at what they perceived as a betrayal of American interests, and Jay was denounced by protesters with such graffiti as "Damn John Jay! Damn everyone who won't damn John Jay!! Damn everyone that won't put lights in his windows and sit up all night damning John Jay!!!" One newspaper editor wrote, "John Jay, ah! the arch traitor – seize him, drown him, burn him, flay him alive."[107] Jay himself quipped that he could travel at night from Boston to Philadelphia solely by the light of his burning effigies.[108]
While in Britain, Jay was elected in May 1795, as the second governor ofNew York (succeedingGeorge Clinton) as aFederalist. He resigned from the Supreme Court service on June 29, 1795, and served six years as governor until 1801.
As governor, he received a proposal from Hamilton togerrymander New York for the presidential election of 1796; he marked the letter "Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt", and filed it without replying.[109] PresidentJohn Adams then renominated him to the Supreme Court; the Senate quickly confirmed him, but he declined, citing his own poor health[73] and the court's lack of "the energy, weight and dignity which are essential to its affording due support to the national government."[110] After Jay's rejection of the position, Adams successfully nominatedJohn Marshall as Chief Justice.
While governor, Jay ran in the1796 presidential election, winning five electoral votes, and in the1800 election he won one vote cast to prevent a tie between the two main Federalist candidates.
In 1801, Jay declined both the Federalist renomination for governor and a Senate-confirmed nomination to resume his former office as Chief Justice of the United States and retired to the life of a farmer inWestchester County, New York. Soon after his retirement, his wife died.[111] Jay remained in good health, continued to farm and, with one notable exception, stayed out of politics.[112] In 1819, he wrote a letter condemning Missouri's bid for admission to the union as a slave state, saying that slavery "ought not to be introduced nor permitted in any of the new states."[113]
Midway through Jay's retirement in 1814, both he and his sonPeter Augustus Jay were elected members of theAmerican Antiquarian Society.[114]
On the night of May 14, 1829, Jay was stricken withpalsy, probably caused by a stroke. He lived for three more days, dying inBedford, New York, on May 17.[115] He was the last surviving President of the Continental Congress and also the last surviving delegate to the First Continental Congress. Jay had chosen to be buried in Rye, where he lived as a boy. In 1807, he had transferred the remains of his wife Sarah Livingston and those of his colonial ancestors from the family vault in the Bowery in Manhattan to Rye, establishing a private cemetery. Today, the Jay Cemetery is an integral part of theBoston Post Road Historic District, adjacent to the historicJay Estate. The Cemetery is maintained by the Jay descendants and closed to the public. It is the oldest active cemetery associated with a figure from the American Revolution.
Several geographical locations within his home state ofNew York were named for him, including the colonialFort Jay onGovernors Island andJohn Jay Park in Manhattan which was designed in part by his great-great-granddaughterMary Rutherfurd Jay. Other places named for him include the towns of Jay inMaine,New York, andVermont;Jay County, Indiana.[116]Mount John Jay, also known as Boundary Peak 18, a summit on the border between Alaska andBritish Columbia, Canada, is also named for him,[117][118] as isJay Peak in northern Vermont.[119]
TheJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice, formerly known as the College of Police Science atCity University of New York, was renamed for Jay in 1964.
AtColumbia University, exceptional undergraduates are designatedJohn Jay Scholars,[120] and one of that university's undergraduate dormitories is known asJohn Jay Hall.[121] The university also hands out theJohn Jay Awards to outstanding alumni ofColumbia College.[122]
In suburbanPittsburgh, the John Jay Center houses the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science atRobert Morris University.
High schools named after Jay include:
In Jay's hometown ofRye, New York, theRye Post Office issued a special cancellation stamp on September 5, 1936. To further commemorate Jay, a group led by CongresswomanCaroline Love Goodwin O'Day commissioned painterGuy Pene du Bois to create a mural for the post office's lobby, with federal funding from theWorks Progress Administration. TitledJohn Jay at His Home, the mural was completed in 1938.
On December 12, 1958, theUnited States Postal Service released a 15¢Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Jay.[123]
The Selected Papers of John Jay is an ongoing endeavor by scholars at Columbia University'sRare Book and Manuscript Library to organize, transcribe and publish a wide range of politically and culturally important letters authored by and written to Jay that demonstrate the depth and breadth of his contributions as a nation builder. More than 13,000 documents from over 75 university and historical collections have been compiled and photographed to date. A selection of Jay's papers are available in a free searchable database on theFounders Online website maintained by theNational Archives.[124]
John Jay's childhood home in Rye, "The Locusts", was immortalized by novelistJames Fenimore Cooper in his first successful novelThe Spy; this book about counterespionage during the Revolutionary War was based on a tale that Jay told Cooper from his own experience as a spymaster inWestchester County.[125][126]
Jay was portrayed by Tim Moyer in the 1984 TV miniseriesGeorge Washington. In its 1986 sequel miniseries,George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation, he was portrayed byNicholas Kepros.
Jay had six children, includingPeter Augustus Jay and abolitionistWilliam Jay. In later generations, Jay's descendants included physicianJohn Clarkson Jay (1808–1891), lawyer and diplomatJohn Jay (1817–1894), ColonelWilliam Jay (1841–1915), diplomatPeter Augustus Jay (1877–1933), writerJohn Jay Chapman (1862–1933), philanthropistWilliam Jay Schieffelin (1866–1955), bankerPierre Jay (1870–1949), horticulturalistMary Rutherfurd Jay (1872–1953), and academicJohn Jay Iselin (1933–2008). Jay was also a direct ancestor ofAdam von Trott zu Solz (1909–1944), a resistance fighter against Nazism.
When a Nation, lead to greatness by the hand of Liberty, and possessed of all the Glory that heroism, munificence, and humanity can bestow, descends to the ungrateful task of forging chains for her friends and children, and instead of giving support to Freedom, turns advocate for Slavery and Oppression, there is reason to suspect she has either ceased to be virtuous, or been extremely negligent in the appointment of her Rulers.
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Data from Wikidata
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of the Continental Congress 1778–1779 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1784–1789 | Office abolished |
| New office | United States Secretary of State (acting) 1789–1790 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of New York 1795–1801 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| First | Federalist nominee forGovernor of New York 1792,1795,1798 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| New seat | Chief Justice of the United States 1789–1795 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| New office | United States Minister to Spain 1779–1782 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of the State of New York 1796–1801 | Succeeded by |
Justices of theSupreme Court of the United States | |||||||
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| Ministers Plenipotentiary to Spain (1779–1825) | |
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| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain (1825–1913) | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Spain (1913–present) | |
| Secretary of State |
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| Secretary of the Treasury |
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| Secretary of War |
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| Attorney General |
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