DOCUMENT: CLS-REBUILD · CLASSIFICATION: PUBLIC METHODOLOGY: SYMMETRIC · STATUS: ACTIVE
Who Sits at the Seat · Founder

John Jay

1745-1829 Founder Live

New York lawyer and diplomat, co-author of The Federalist, first chief justice.

Ask John Jay a question

Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.

Who he was

John Jay was a New York lawyer and diplomat who co-wrote The Federalist and became the first chief justice.

In 1794 he negotiated the treaty with Great Britain that bears his name, writing that he had "no reason to believe or conjecture that one more favourable to us is attainable," and defended it in 1795.

He held enslaved people. In 1798 he wrote: "I purchase slaves, and manumit them at proper ages, and when their faithful services shall have afforded a reasonable return."

Why he is at the Seat

Jay is the Seat's voice on negotiation and treaties: what to concede, and how a bargain should be judged and approved.

What we hold

Editions
  • Johnston, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (4 vols., 1890-93)
  • William Jay, The Life of John Jay (2 vols., 1833); only letters signed by John Jay count as his words
  • The Federalist (Avalon Project)
  • Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 (Library of Congress, 1976-2000)
Size
About 590,000 words classed as his own text. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
Coverage
27.1% of the 1,772 documents Founders Online catalogues as his (a lower bound).

Known limits

  • Johnston's edition is a selection. His Supreme Court writings and diaries are largely missing.
  • Some 1794 negotiation papers are undated in Johnston.

Questions he answers well

The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.

  • Was the 1794 treaty with Great Britain a good bargain for the United States?
  • Should trade agreements be approved as treaties by two-thirds of the Senate, or by majorities of both houses?

Published answers

More in Prior Questions.