Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/77

 JAY

JAY

historical researches, published in such technical journals as The Journal of the American Oriental Societij, the American Journal of Semitic Lan- guagefi, Zeitschrift fi'ir Assyriologie, and the American Journal of Philolo(jy.

JAY, James, physician, was born in New York city, Oct. 27, 1732; son of Peter and Mary (Van Cortlandt) Jay. He studied medicine, and was associated in 1755 with the Rev. Dr. William Smith, provost of the college, academy and charitable school of Philadelphia in the province of Pennsylvania, in securing the means for the establishment of that college. While on a visit to England in 1702, Dr. Jay represented the need for higher education in the colonies and ijresented the claims of. and solicited a considerable sum of monoy for Kings, afterward Columbia, college, which he helped also to found. He was knighted by King Geoi'ge IH. in 17G3, and on his return to New York he was instrumental in securing the passage of the New York act of attainder. He published two pamphlets relating to the collec- tions made for the colleges in America (1771-74) and Reflections and Observations on the Gout (1772). He died in Springfield, N.J., Oct. 20, 1815. JAY, John, statesman, was born in New York city. Dec. 12, 1745; son of Peter and Mary (Van Cortlandt) Jay; grandson of Augustus and Ann Maria (Bayard) Jay, and great-grandson of Pierre Jay, who was driven from France in 1685. John Jay's mother was the daughter of Jacobus Van

Cortlandt, and liis grandniother was the daughter of Bal- thazar Bayard. In 1755 he was sent to a boarding school at New Rochelle, N.Y., kept by Pastor Stoupe, of the French Huguenot church. He was graduated at Kings (Columbia) col- lege. New York city, in 1764; studied law in the office of Ben- jamin Kissam, and in 1768 was admitted to the bar. He was married, in 1774, to Sarah Van Brugh, daughter of William Livingston, afterward governor of New Jersey. Upon the receipt of the news that the Boston port-bill liad passed. Jay became conspicuous as a member of the New York committee of fifty-one to corre- spond with the other colonies. As a member of the first Continental congress he is credited with being the autlior of the aildress prepared by the committee of thi-ee appointed l)y that congress in September, 1774, to the " People of Great Brit-

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ain," which Jefferson declared to be " a produc- tion certainly of the finest pen in America." He was also a member of the second Continental congress which convened in Pliiladelphia, May 10, 1775, and he drafted the " Address to the people of Canada and of Ireland." As a member of the congress he was appointed a member of the secret committee, Nov. 29, 1775, "to correspond with friends in Great Britain, Ireland and other parts of the world." While attending this con- gress, his presence was requested by the New York convention, which met in New York city. May 14, 1776; adjourned to White Plains, July 9, 1776, and on Jay's motion that convention unanimously approved of the Declaration of Independence, received from congress on the eve of the adjournment of the convention. The convention, re-assembled at Harlem, was driven successively to Fishkill, Kingston, and finally to Poughkeepsie, and Jay was in daily attendance. On Aug. 1, 1776, he was made chairman of a committee of thirteen to prepare a plan for instituting and framing a form of government, which was ratified, Aug. 26, 1776, but did not receive the action of the committee until the following spring. It was discussed and adojited, April 20, 1777, only a single negative vote being cast, and it was proclaimed by the secretary in front of the court-house at Esopus, N.Y., without being submitted to the people, on account of the disturbed condition of the country. The com- mittee provided a general election, organized a judicial system, and gave to the " Couilcil of Safet}- " the supreme power to carry on the government in the interim. Jay was appointed chief justice, with Robert R. Livingston as chancellor. On the withdrawal of Vermont from the jurisdiction of New York, the presence of Jay was demanded in the Continental congress. He was elected by the legislature in October and commissioned by the governor, Nov. 18, 1778, to hold the office till March 3, 1779, and no longer. He took his seat, Dec. 7, 1778, and three days later he was elected president of congress, which position made him chief executive of the con- federated states. On Sept. 28, 1779, he was elected by congress minister plenipotentiary to Spain. On his arrival, in 1780, he received no official recognition, as the government of Spain was not disposed to i-ecognize American independence. While in Spain he was added to the commission to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain, and was summoned to Paris to co-operate with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Henry Laurens. The position of the commissioners was complicated, as congress, urged by Luzerne, the French minister at Philadelphia, had modified the instructions originally given to the commis- sioners, and liad instructed them " to make the