John Jay was born in New York City on 12 December 1745 and died on 17 May 1829. After graduating from King's College in 1764 he was admitted to the bar in 1768. The American Revolution gave rise to the public life of John Jay. He was sent as a delegate of his colony to the first, and later to the second, Continental Congress. As a member of the provincial congress, he helped to ratify the Declaration of Independence. He served until 1779 as chief justice of New York and was also a colonel in the state militia. In 1782 Franklin asked Jay to assume his post as joint commissioner for negotiating a peace with Great Britain. After the war, Jay returned to New York to serve as secretary of foreign affairs. After the adoption of the Constitution of 1787 he joined with Hamilton and Madison in the writing of the "Federalist" papers. He was then appointed the first chief justice of the Supreme Court. In 1795 he was elected governor of New York State. In 1800 Jay retired from public life, declining to become a candidate for reelection, and refused to be considered for renomination as chief justice of the United States. Jay felt that the Supreme Court lacked "the energy, weight, and dignity which are essential to its affording due support to the national Government". Greatly upset by the early death of his wife, Jay retired to his farm at Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y. where he died on 17 May 1829.
Copies in part. Originals of Jay's letter book as Secretary of State are in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Originals of the letters from John Armstrong are in Archives de France. Letters, manuscripts, documents, and letterbooks of Jay and of many members of his family. The letters touch on every aspect of American life and government of the period, and contain correspondence from such prominent individuals as John Adams, George Clinton, James Duane, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Rufus King, John Paul Jones, Marquis de Lafayette, Robert B. Livingston, William Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Edmund Randolph, Philip Schuyler, and George Washington. There are approximately 500 letters from Jay, primarily drafts of correspondence to the persons listed above, as well as his correspondence as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1784-1789. The manuscripts and documents include many reports, commissions, and diplomas, as well as a draft copy of The Federalist Number 5 and Jay's oath of office as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court; also included are manumission documents, and a group of documents from Trinity Church, where his father was a vestryman from 1715 to 1785. The collection includes copies of Jay's letter book as Secretary of State, 10 Oct. 1788-25 Dec. 1792, and of four letters from John Armstrong, 19 June-27 Dec. 1810; and a copy of the pair of silverplated candlesticks from the Treaty of Paris, 3 Sept. 1783, reproduced by the Smithsonian Institution.
I. CATALOGED CORRESPONCENCE |
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| 1 | A | ||
| 2 | Ba - Banyer, M. 1792 - 1815] | ||
| 3 | Banyer, M. [1816 - 1851 & n.d.] | ||
| 4 | Bar - Bl | ||
| 5 | Bo - Ca | ||
| 6 | Ce - Cla | ||
| 7 | Cli - Cu | ||
| 8 | D | ||
| 9 | E - F | ||
| 10 | G - Ham | ||
| 11 | Han - Jar | ||
| 12 | Jay, A. | ||
| 13 | Jay, E. - Jay, John [n.d. & 1765 - 1777] | ||
| 14 | Jay, John [1778 - July 1780] | ||
| 15 | Jay, John [Aug. 1780 - Aug. 1781] | ||
| 16 | Jay, John [Sept. 1781 - 1782] | ||
| 17 | Jay, John [1783 - April 1784] | ||
| 18 | Jay, John [May 1784 - Sept. 1785] | ||
| 19 | Jay, John [Oct. 1785 - 1786] | ||
| 20 | Jay, John [1787 - 1788] | ||
| 21 | Jay, John [1789 - July 1794] | ||
| 22 | Jay, John [Aug. 1794 - March 1795] | ||
| 23 | Jay, John [April 1795 - 1798] | ||
| 24 | Jay, John [1799 - 1804] | ||
| 25 | Jay, John [1805 - 1809] | ||
| 26 | Jay, John [1810 - 1812] | ||
| 27 | Jay, John [1813 - 1817] | ||
| 28 | Jay, John [1818 - 1821] | ||
| 29 | Jay, John [1822 - 1828] | ||
| 30 | Jay, John Jr. - Jay, Peter | ||
| 31 | Jay, Peter Augustus [1781 - 1804] | ||
| 32 | Jay, Peter Augustus [1805 - 1813] | ||
| 33 | Jay, Peter Augustus [1814 - 1823] | ||
| 34 | Jay, Peter Augustus [1824 - 1839] | ||
| 35 | Jay, Peter Augustus [1840 - 1843] | ||
| 35 | Jay, Sarah Livingston (Mrs. John) [1774 - 1776] | ||
| 36 | Jay, Sarah Livingston (Mrs. John) [1787 - 1802] | ||
| 37 | Jay, Sarah Louise & Jay, William [1808 - 1832] | ||
| 38 | Jay, William [1833 - 1840] | ||
| 39 | Jay, William [1841 - 1855] | ||
| 40 | Jay, William [1856 - 1858] - Kent | ||
| 41 | Ki - Le | ||
| 42 | Li - Livingston, P.V.B. | ||
| 43 | Livingston, R.R. - Livingston, W. | ||
| 44 | Lo - Mad | ||
| 45 | Man - Morris, G. | ||
| 46 | Morris, J. - Mu | ||
| 47 | N - Pic | ||
| 48 | Pie - Rom | ||
| 49 | Roo - Sc | ||
| 50 | Se - St | ||
| 51 | Su - Tro | ||
| 52 | Tru - Va | ||
| 53 | Ve - end | ||
II. CATALOGED MANAUSCRIPT & DOCUMENTS |
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| 54 | A - Cl | ||
| 55 | Co - Jay, James | ||
| 56 | Jay, John (1745 - 1829) [n.d. - 1789] | ||
| 57 | Jay, John (1745 - 1829) [1790 - 1800] | ||
| 58 | Jay, John (1745 - 1829) [1801 - end] | ||
| 59 | Jay, John (1817 - 1894) - Jay, William [ - 1883] | ||
| 60 | Jay, William [1884 - end] - P | ||
| 61 | R - end | ||
| 62 | Documents in the Case Hunt v. Underhill | ||
III. MISCELLANEOUS BOXED MATERIALS |
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| 63 | Uncataloged Manuscripts and Documents Printed Material Portraits | ||
| 64 | Monaghan Purchase Inventory | ||
| 65 | Treaty of Paris Candlesticks | ||
| Card File Box 66 | Genealogical file, A-O | ||
| Card File Box 67 | Genealogical file, P-Z & Miscellaneous | ||
IV. OVERSIZED, ENCASED & BOUND MATERIALS |
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| Mayor's Court Ledger 1758-1776 | |||
| 1 | John Jay Letterbook 24 Dec. 1779 - 19 Nov. 1782 | ||
| 2 | John Jay Letterbook 10 Sept. 1782 - 25 July 1784 (and Appendix 20 - 27 Dec. 1779) | ||
| 3 | John Jay Letterbook 5 Feb. 1785 - 16 Sept. 1788 | ||
| 4 | John Jay Letterbook 29 Sept. 1779 - 12 July 1780 Note: Copies of letters by others | ||
| 5 | John Jay Letterbook 19 Oct. 1779 - 11 June 1780 | ||
| 6 | John Jay Letterbook 2 July 1781 - 16 March 1782 | ||
| 7 | John Jay Letterbook 21 May 1785 - 4 Oct. 1789 Note: Copies of correspondence regarding negotiations of Treaty with Spain | ||
| 8 | John Jay Letterbook 9 April 1794 - 5 March 1795 | ||
| 9 | John Jay Letterbook 29 May 1787 - 8 July 1830 | ||
| 10 | John Jay Letterbook 11 July 1795 - 29 Feb. 1896 | ||
| 11 | John Jay Circuit Court Diary 16 April 1790 - 4 Aug. 1792 | ||
| 12 | John Jay Manuscripts Pertaining to Peace with Britain | ||
| 13 | John Jay Account Book of Letters Received 15 Nov. 1781 - 1 Oct. 1782 | ||
| 14 | John Jay Receipt Book 1789 - 1802 | ||
| 15 | John Jay Account Book of Jay's Mission to London 1794 | ||
| 16 | Peter Jay Letterbook 30 Dec. 1724 - 10 July 1735 | ||
| 17 | Peter Jay Letterbook 9 Nov. 1745 - 16 Jan. 1748/9 | ||
| 18 | Peter Jay Letterbook 17 Dec. 1748 - 20 Dec. 1772 | ||
| 19 | Sarah Livingston Jay (Mrs. John) Letterbook [30 Dec. 1779] - 14 March 1783 | ||
| 20 | Sarah Livingston Jay (Mrs. John) Letterbook 1779 - 1781 | ||
| 21 | Peter Jay Receipt Book 1766 - 1782 | ||
| 22 | New York City Mayor's Court Ledger of Court Fees and Cases 1758 -1776 | ||