JAY, JOHN
John Jay was a politician, statesman, and the first chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was one of the authors of The Federalist, a collection of
influential papers written with JAMES MADISON
and ALEXANDER HAMILTON prior to the ratifica-
tion of the Constitution.
Jay was born in New York City on December
12, 1745. Unlike most of the colonists in the
New World, who were English, Jay traced his
ancestry to the French Huguenots, His grandfa-
ther, August Jay, immigrated to New York in the
late seventeenth century to escape the persecu-
tion of non-Catholics under Louis XIV. Jay
graduated from King’s College, now known as
Columbia University, in 1764. He was admitted
to the bar in New York City in 1768.
One of Jay’s earliest achievements was his
participation in the settlement of the boundary
line between New York and New Jersey in 1773.
During the time preceding the Revolutionary
War, Jay actively protested against British treat-
ment of the colonies but did not fully advocate
independence until 1776, when the Declaration
of Independence was created. Jay then supported
independence wholeheartedly. He was a member
of the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS from 1774 to
1779, acting as its president from 1778 to 1779.
In 1776, Jay was a member of the Provincial
Congress of New York and was instrumental in
the formation of the constitution of that state.
From 1776 to 1778, he performed the duties of
New York chief justice.
Jay next embarked on a foreign service
