By the time of John Jay's birth, the Jay family
had established a place among the social elite of New York City. John's
father, Peter, a wealthy merchant, was both a freeman of the city and
a vestryman of Trinity Church, while his mother, Mary Van Cortlandt, had
been born into one of the colony's great patroon families. Taking
advantage of his privileged background, the young John Jay graduated from
King's College in 1764 and entered the legal profession, first clerking
for Benjamin Kissam, then establishing a legal practice with Robert R.
Livingston, and eventually opening his own law office in 1771. During
these years, Jay cultivated himself as a young gentleman, participating
in elite social clubs, dancing assemblies and debating societies (see
John Jay et al., 1/22/1768, Jay ID #886).
With the intensification of colonial resistance
following the passage of the Coercive Acts in 1774, Jay found himself
propelled into the political arena, being selected as one of a Committee
of Fifty that New York's conservatives had created to guide the protest
movement within the colony (see
John Jay to John Vardill, 5/23/1774, Jay ID #5021). Shortly
afterwards, Jay was elected as one of New York's delegates at the First
Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which went on to pass a nonimportation
agreement known as the Continental Association. Returning to New
York at the close of the First Congress in late 1774, he concentrated
his energies, as one of the newly selected Committee of Sixty, on enforcing
the Association (see
Peter Jay to John Jay, 5/20/1775, Jay ID #7864). Throughout,
however, Jay was a cautious, even lukewarm revolutionary, evincing the
characteristic moderation that would be a hallmark of his career.
In the spring of 1776, he was elected to the New
York Provincial Congress, where he remained even as the Continental Congress
was declaring the nation's independence, a move he would probably have
voted against had he been in Philadelphia. In the summer of 1776,
with British ships and British troops descending on New York City, Jay
contributed to a committee whose purpose was to obstruct and harass the
British (see
[Outlines for plans to obstruct the Hudson River], 7/19/1776, Jay ID #4027).
He also played an active role in the state's campaign against Loyalists,
sitting on the Committee for Detecting Conspiracies, where he oversaw
the prosecution of a number of prominent opponents of the new nation,
including Beverly Robinson and Cadwallader Colden, Jr., the son of the
former lieutenant governor under the crown (see
Cadwallader Colden Jr., to John Jay, 7/27/1777, Jay ID #13167).
Elected to the Fourth New York Congress, Jay was placed on the committee
responsible for framing the state's constitution. During the winter
of 1776-77, Jay played a key role in formulating the committee's draft.
Though he objected privately to various elements of the final version
(see
John Jay to Robert R. Livingston and Gouverneur Morris, 4/29/1777, Jay
ID #2819), in public he was the new constitution's resolute defender.
In the summer of 1777, the Provincial Convention elected Jay the
first Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. In this position,
which he held for two years, he presided over cases, including many property
crimes, stemming from the chaotic conditions that accompanied the military
and civil conflict of the revolutionary years in New York (see
John Jay et al. to Governor George Clinton, 5/20/1778, Jay ID #1054).
A long period of national and international service
followed before Jay once more made his presence felt within the ambit
of New York through his powerful contributions to the struggle to ratify
the federal Constitution. Best known are his contributions as Publius
to the Federalist. His first contributions, numbers 2 through
5 (see
draft of Federalist #5, 10/31/1787, Jay ID #10401), appeared in
the New York Independent Journal in October-November 1787. More
influential still was his pamphlet, "An Address to the People of
New York," written in the spring of 1788 (see
George Washington to John Jay, 5/15/1788, Jay ID #7238). An
authoritative restatement of arguments in favor of the federal Constitution,
and a rebuttal of counterarguments, the "Address" played a role
in securing ratification in New York despite the presence of a powerful
Anti-Federalist opposition.
Upon returning from his mission in Europe in 1784,
Jay had proceeded to build a family house in New York City (see
John Jay to Philip Schuyler, 3/17/1785, Jay ID #9354), in which
the Jays continued to live until he became Governor of New York. As
Governor for two terms, from 1795 to 1801, Jay oversaw legislation that
established a state penitentiary (see
Matthew Clarkson to John Jay, 11/21/1797, Jay ID #3275), dealt
with Indians over land claims
(see John Jay to Timothy Pickering, 4/23/1798, Jay ID #3144),
bestowed aid upon those fleeing from revolutionary Saint Domingue (see
John Jay to the New York Legislature, 11/1/1796, Jay ID #3505),
and confronted both a yellow fever outbreak (see
Richard Varick to John Jay, 9/24/1798, Jay ID #9293) and the prospect
of invasion by the French (see
John Jay to James McHenry, 7/17/1797, Jay ID #3086).
After his second term, Jay retired from public
life, establishing himself as a country farmer on his property at Bedford
in Westchester County. There he lived out his days, though in close
communication with his two sons who remained active within New York's
public realm (see
Peter Augustus Jay to John Jay, 10/10/1821, Jay ID #6251).
James Baird
Columbia University
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