JohnJay – fIrstChIefJustICeofthesuPremeCourt
Senior Counsel Section Chairs : TomHyde – AttorneyatLaw & DonSmith – Smith , Tozian , Daniel & Davis , PA
In the early years of our republic , John Jay served the United States as a diplomat , skillfully negotiating the Treaty of Paris at the end of the war , as an advocate assisting in writing the Federalist Papers urging the ratification of the Constitution , and as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court , leading the federal judiciary to establish its equal position among the three branches of the government .
In October of 1781 , British General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown . The Revolutionary war was over . Now the details of the peace treaty had to be resolved . Peace negotiations began in Paris in the summer of 1782 . The American delegation included Benjamin Franklin , the American minister to France ; John Adams , the minister to Holland ; and John Jay , who would skillfully advance the interests of the new nation .
The American commissioners were instructed to proceed in cooperation with France . But Jay feared that the French would sacrifice the interests of the United States and that the Spanish had designs to extend their influence in their Florida territories and along the Mississippi River . So , Jay began to favor a separate agreement with England . Eventually , Jay and Franklin not only agreed to a separate treaty with England ,
but also convinced the French and Spanish to agree to this separate peace treaty . 1 Thus , by the 1783 Treaty of Paris , it was resolved that the boundaries of the United States extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River , north to Canada and south to Spanish Florida . This was more territory than the United States actually controlled at the war ’ s end . 2 This was the first of many contributions of John Jay .
In 1787 , delegates from several states met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and adopted the United State Constitution . But now it had to be ratified by the states . Once again , John Jay was there to help . The Constitution had to be ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states . In the first seven months of 1788 , John Jay , along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison , worked to write the Federalist Papers , a series of eighty-five essays , published under the pseudonym Publius , in support of ratifying the Constitution . 3 By 1790 , all thirteen states had finally ratified the Constitution . 4
The process of organizing the federal government had begun . Once again , John Jay played a key role . In 1790 , Jay was appointed by allamericanscanthankJohnJay forhisserviceasadiplomat negotiatingwithstrength , as anadvocateurgingthepeople toratifytheconstitution , and asajuristleadingthewayfor anindependentjudiciary .
President George Washington as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . As Chief Justice , Jay led the federal judiciary to assume its place along with the legislative and executive branches , including asserting the power of judicial review over both state and federal laws . It was not quite “ Marbury v . Madison ,” but it was the genesis of judicial review . 5
All Americans can thank John Jay for his service as a diplomat negotiating with strength , as an advocate urging the people to ratify the constitution , and as a jurist leading the way for an independent judiciary . n
1
The Oxford History of the American People , Samuel Elliot Morison , p . 266 ,
Oxford University Press ( 1965 ).
2
Ibid . p . 267 .
3
First Principles , Thomas E . Ricks , p . 206 , Harper Collins , Publishers . ( 2020 ). 4
First Principles , Thomas E . Ricks , p . 216 , Harper Collins , Publishers . ( 2020 ). 5
The Oxford History of the American People , Samuel Elliot Morison , p . 322 , Oxford University Press ( 1965 ).
Author : Thomas Newcomb Hyde – Attorney at Law
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