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Founder · Diplomat · First Chief Justice · 1745–1829
John Jay: Diplomat and First Chief Justice
A careful New York lawyer who helped win the peace that ended the Revolution, wrote part of The Federalist, became the first Chief Justice of the United States, and as governor signed the law that ended slavery in New York.
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John Jay, painted by Gilbert Stuart, 1794
Quick facts
John Jay at a glance
| Born | December 12, 1745, in New York City | |
| Died | May 17, 1829, at his farm in Bedford, New York, aged 83 | |
| Education | King's College (now Columbia University), class of 1764 | |
| Congress | Delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses; President of Congress, 1778–1779 | |
| Diplomat | Minister to Spain; negotiator of the Treaty of Paris (1783); Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1784–1789 | |
| The Federalist | Wrote five essays: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 64 | |
| Chief Justice | First Chief Justice of the United States, 1789–1795 | |
| Governor | Governor of New York, 1795–1801 | |
| Wife | Sarah Van Brugh Livingston, married April 28, 1774; they had six children | |
| Buried | Jay family cemetery, Rye, New York |
The big picture in 30 seconds
Why he matters
- His tough bargaining in Paris won a peace treaty with borders reaching all the way to the Mississippi River.
- As the first Chief Justice he helped set up the federal court system.
- The Jay Treaty of 1794 kept the United States out of a new war with Britain, at the cost of his popularity.
- He signed New York's 1799 law for the gradual abolition of slavery.
1783
Treaty of Paris, which he helped negotiate
1st
Chief Justice of the United States
5
Federalist essays he wrote
6 years
as governor of New York
Early years
A New York lawyer
John Jay was born in New York City on December 12, 1745, into a wealthy merchant family descended from French Protestant refugees. He grew up on the family farm in Rye, graduated from King’s College in 1764, and became a lawyer in 1768.
In 1774 he married Sarah Livingston, daughter of New Jersey’s future governor. Sarah would travel with him to Spain and France and became a popular hostess in Paris and New York.
A cautious revolutionary
Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774. At first he hoped to make peace with Britain, but once independence was declared he committed fully. He was the main author of New York’s first state constitution in 1777 and became the state’s chief justice.
The peacemaker
Winning the peace in Paris
In 1779 Congress sent Jay to Spain to seek money and recognition. He spent two frustrating years there; Spain gave a little money but would not recognize American independence. In 1782 he joined Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in Paris to negotiate peace with Britain.
Congress had told the commissioners to follow France’s lead. Jay suspected that France and Spain wanted to keep the United States small, and he persuaded his colleagues to negotiate directly with the British. The result, the Treaty of Paris of 1783, gave the United States the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River.
The new government
Federalist, judge and treaty-maker
Back home, Jay ran foreign affairs under the weak Articles of Confederation and became convinced the nation needed a stronger government.
1787–1788
The Federalist
Jay agreed to write the essays with Hamilton and Madison but fell ill after five. They argued that only a strong union could protect Americans from foreign powers.
1789–1795
First Chief Justice
Washington chose Jay to lead the new Supreme Court. Its most important early case, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), led to the 11th Amendment.
1794
The Jay Treaty
Sent to London to stop British seizures of American ships, Jay won Britain’s promise to leave its forts in the Northwest. Critics said he gave away too much, and burned him in effigy.
“Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government.”
John Jay
The Federalist No. 2, 1787
Governor and farmer
Ending slavery in New York
Jay was elected governor of New York in 1795 and served two terms. He had been the first president of the New York Manumission Society, founded in 1785 to work for the end of slavery and to protect free Black New Yorkers. In 1799 he signed the state’s Gradual Emancipation Act, which freed children born to enslaved mothers after July 4, 1799. Jay himself enslaved people, and freed them over time as adults.
In 1801 he turned down a second appointment as Chief Justice and retired to his farm in Bedford, where he lived quietly for 28 more years. He outlived all the other negotiators of the Treaty of Paris.
His life at a glance
Life timeline
People
Who's who in Jay's story
Sarah Livingston Jay
Wife
Went with him to Spain and Paris, and became one of the best-known hostesses of the new republic.
Fellow negotiator
Jay persuaded Franklin to bargain with Britain without waiting for France.
Federalist partner
Recruited Jay for The Federalist and backed the Jay Treaty in print.
William Jay
Son
A judge and leading abolitionist who wrote his father’s first biography.
Visit
John Jay Homestead
The John Jay Homestead State Historic Site in Katonah, New York, preserves the farmhouse where Jay spent his last 28 years, with family furniture and portraits.
Go deeper
Sources and further reading
- John Jay: Founder of a State and Nation, by Walter Stahr (2005)
- The Federalist Papers, by Hamilton, Madison and Jay