On Tuesday, October 16, Charles Rappleye will be giving a talk, "Robert Morris: Financier of the Revolution" at the John Jay Homestead Historic Site in Bedford NY at 7:00 P.M. The John Jay Homestead is the house Jay built for his retirement and which stayed in the family until the 20th century. It became a […]
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Treacherous Beauty: talk by Stephen H. Case
On Thursday, October 11, Stephen H. Case will be giving a talk on his new book (written with Mark Jacob) Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen, the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold's Plot to Betray America. The talk will be in Butler Library, room 523 and begins at 6:00. While Arnold's plot is familiar, the role of his […]
On this day in 1789…
George Washington informed John Jay of his appointment as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. United States, 5th: October 1789. Sir, 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 […]
Happy Constitution Day!
On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Go here to read about Jay's roll in the ratification of the Constitution. […]
Greetings from the Jay Papers! I apologize for my long absence, but we've been very, very busy. Volume 2 of the Selected Papers of John Jay was published by the University of Virginia Press in Spring of 2012. This exciting volume covers the years of the Spanish Mission (1779-1782), when Mr. Jay attempted to secure […]
Happy New Year!
Between 1780 and 1784, Gouverneur Morris wrote his old friend John Jay a series of New Year’s letters (3 Jan. 1780, 2 Jan. 1781, 20 Jan. 1782, 1 Jan. 1783, and 10 Jan. 1784). During these years Jay was first Minister to Spain and then a member of the American Peace Commission in Paris. However, […]
Happy Birthday, Mr. Jay!
John Jay was born December 12, 1745, in New York City. […]
On this day in in 1789, John Jay was appointed First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
To all who shall see these Presents. Greeting. Know Ye, that reposing special Trust and Confidence in the Wisdom, Uprightness, and Learning of John Jay of New York Esquire, I have nominated, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, do appoint him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the […]
Fashion Week
In honor of New York’s Fashion Week, we begin a series of posts on style, fashion, and dress. While most people do not associate John Jay and his circle with high fashion, the correspondence and papers of the Jay family and friends are replete with references to such "frivolous" things. Sally Jay, for example, was […]
Another Virginia earthquake
From President John Quincy Adams’s diary, dated March 9, 1828 "There was this Evening the shock of an Earthquake– the first which I ever distinctly noticed at the moment when it happened– I was entering in this book, when the table began to shake under my hand, and the floor under my feet. The window […]