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John Jay

"No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent."

John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, having been nominated by George Washington. He was a founding father and the second youngest member of the First Continental Congress. John was part of the movement for American independence and the creation of a new nation where his numerous achievements were of great importance to the birth of the new nation.

After graduating from college, with the highest honors, he was admitted to the Bar of New York. Then in early 1774 he became one of the most prominent members of the New York Committee of Correspondence. Later that year he became a member of the First Continental Congress. In 1776 he retired from the Continental Congress because he did not want to sign the Declaration of Independence. Although John did not initially favor separation from Britain, he was nonetheless among the American commissioners who negotiated the peace with Great Britain that secured independence for the former colonies.

In 1777 John became the first Chief Justice, after attending the New York constitutional convention and being selected to draft that constitution. He was then elected again into the Continental Congress and was voted president upon arrival. Two years late Jay was appointed Minister to Spain in order to seek recognition of Colonial Independence, financial aid, and commercial treaties. In 1782 Jay, along with Adams, Franklin, and Laurens signed the treaty of peace with Great Britain. When he returned to Congress, he had already been appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

John authored three of the articles, now called The Federalist, in which he, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton argued in the support for approval of the new Federal Constitution. In 1794 the Jay Treaty was approved by the Washington administration. The treaty was the result of John seeking a resolution to continuing conflicts on the western border, and in commercial relations. John was then elected Governor of New York. He was a very popular Governor who fought for many political reforms including judicial reform, penal reform and the abolition of slavery. He retired from public life in 1801 despite John Adams trying to appoint him to the Supreme Court again that year.

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