John Jay

**John Jay** (December 23, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American politician, statesman, slave owner, and diplomat. He was the Chief Justice of the United States and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Jay served in the Continental Congress and was elected its president. During and after the American Revolution, he was a minister (ambassador) to Spain and France and helped to fashion American foreign policy and secure favorable peace terms from the British and the French. He also co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

From 1789 to 1795, Jay served on the Supreme Court as the first Chief Justice of the United States.  In 1794, he negotiated the Jay Treaty with the British. A leader of the new Federalist Party, Jay was the second governor of New York from 1795 to 1801.

He was the leading opponent of slavery and the slave trade in New York. He tried but failed to pass an emancipation law in 1777 and again in 1785. However, in 1799, he succeeded and signed the law that eventually emancipated the slaves of New York, the last of whom were freed shortly before his death.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: John Jay
- **image**: John Jay (Gilbert Stuart portrait).jpg
- **office**: 1st Chief Justice of the United States
- **nominator**: George Washington
- **term start**: September 26, 1789
- **term end**: June 29, 1795
- **predecessor**: _Office established_
- **successor**: John Rutledge
- **order1**: 2nd Governor of New York
- **lieutenant1**: Stephen Van Rensselaer
- **term start1**: July 1, 1795
- **term end1**: June 30, 1801
- **predecessor1**: George Clinton (vice president), George Clinton
- **successor1**: George Clinton
- **office2**: Acting United States Secretary of State
- **president2**: George Washington
- **term start2**: September 15, 1789
- **term end2**: March 22, 1790
- **predecessor2**: Himself as Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- **successor2**: Thomas Jefferson
- **office3**: United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- **president3**: George Washington
- **term start3**: July 27, 1789
- **term end3**: September 15, 1789
Acting
- **predecessor3**: Himself
- **successor3**: Himself as Secretary of State
- **appointer4**: Congress of the Confederation, Confederation Congress
- **term start4**: May 7, 1784
- **term end4**: March 4, 1789
- **predecessor4**: Robert R. Livingston (chancellor), Robert Livingston
- **successor4**: Himself (acting)
- **office5**: United States Ambassador to Spain, United States Minister to Spain
- **appointer5**: Second Continental Congress
- **term start5**: September 27, 1779
- **term end5**: May 20, 1782
- **predecessor5**: Office established
- **successor5**: William Carmichael (diplomat), William Carmichael
- **office6**: 6th President of the Continental Congress, President of the Second Continental Congress
- **term start6**: December 10, 1778
- **term end6**: September 28, 1779
- **predecessor6**: Henry Laurens
- **successor6**: Samuel Huntington (statesman), Samuel Huntington
- **office7**: Delegate to the Second Continental Congress
from New York (state), New York
- **term start7**: December 7, 1778
- **term end7**: September 28, 1779
- **predecessor7**: Philip Livingston
- **successor7**: Robert R. Livingston (chancellor), Robert Livingston
- **term start8**: May 10, 1775
- **term end8**: May 22, 1776
- **predecessor8**: Seat established
- **successor8**: Seat abolished
- **office9**: Delegate to the First Continental Congress
from Province of New York
- **term start9**: September 5, 1774
- **term end9**: October 26, 1774
- **predecessor9**: Seat established
- **successor9**: Seat abolished
- **birth place**: New York City, Province of New York, New York, British America
- **death place**: Bedford (town), New York, Bedford, New York, U.S.
- **party**: Federalist Party, Federalist
- **spouse**: Sarah Livingston Jay, Sarah Livingston
- **children**: 6, including Peter A. Jay, Peter and William Jay (jurist), William
- **education**: Columbia University
- **signature**: John Jay Signature2.svg