The Selected Papers of John Jay (Volume 1) : 1760-1779 (Selected Papers of John Jay)

The publication of this volume has been supported by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Few leaders of the new American nation had more influence than John Jay (1745-1829), or could match his contributions in all three branches of government, at both state and national levels. A leading representative of New York in the Continental Congress, Jay became one of the American commissioners who negotiated peace with Great Britain. He served the new republic as secretary for foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation, as a contributor to the Federalist papers, as the first chief justice of the United States, as negotiator of the 1794 'Jay Treaty' with Great Britain, and as a two-term governor of the state of New York. In his personal life, Jay embraced a wide range of religious, social, and cultural concerns, including the abolition of slavery. This volume launches a new annotated seven-volume edition of selected correspondence of John Jay. The work consists of a wide-ranging selection of the most significant and interesting public and private documents and letters, written or received by Jay. The edition is designed to revise and complete work begun in the 1950s by the eminent Columbia University professor Richard B. Morris, who supplemented the major collection of original Jay Papers at Columbia with copies of Jay documents secured from archives throughout the world, and with his staff published two volumes covering the era of the American Revolution. The new project is administered by the Rare Books and Manuscript Room of Columbia University Libraries. The Selected Papers of John Jay, 1760-1779 begins with Jay's education and training as a socially elite, Anglican, King's College - educated lawyer. Although such a path led many into Loyalism, it brought Jay, and such friends and correspondents as Robert R. Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, and Alexander Hamilton, into the front ranks of New York's moderate revolutionary lead