Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/61

Rh appointment impossible. John Jay, one of the leading expounders of the Constitution, then acting as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and a close personal friend of Washington's, was said to have been offered the choice of retaining his position in the Cabinet or taking the Chief Justiceship. That Alexander Hamilton might be offered the position was evidently gravely feared by some; for a citizen of Maryland wrote to Washington as to rumors "that the Chief will not be a native of America. … Nine tenths of the best friends to America will ever be averse to a foreign Judge", and he expressed the hope that Robert H. Harrison, the Chief Judge of Maryland, would be appointed—"the best man in the Union for the head of the Judiciary, best calculated to inspire confidence and love among our people … though from his retired habits not so well known throughout America as many men of high character who perhaps are not near so perfect … his virtues and character are not hidden from the impartial President of the United States."

The President's decision finally fell upon John Jay of New York. "It is with singular pleasure that I address you as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, for which office your commission is enclosed," wrote Washington. "In nominating you