John Jay

Copy of portrait of John Jay painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1828. (Wikimedia Commons) While Jay wrote the smallest number of the Federalist Papers, his influence and influences are especially worthy of mention.  He was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, served as President of the Continental Congress during and after the Revolutionary War, and became the Governor of New York. Distinctively among the founders, he was an outspoken critic of slavery and was responsible for the 1799 act that would eventually, some years later,  emancipate slaves and prohibit slavery in New York. 

Jay was born, like the many of the founders to a wealthy and well-positioned family. After private tutoring, in 1760 he became a student at King’s College (now Columbia College.)  In 1789 he became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  While the early Court spent most of its time on procedure  and building the institution, some of the cases the Jay Court decided are important in terms of building the grounds for judicial review.   He retired from politics in 1801 and spent his remaining years as a farmer in Rye, NY.  He died in 1829.

Seth David Halvorson, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University

Works Consulted:

Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation, 6th Edition