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John Jay

First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

John Jay was born in [ny:newyork] in 1745 and graduated from [kc] in 1764. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1768. Jay attended both the First Continental Congress and Second Continental Congress as a representative of New York. The second congress elected Jay as president. At the end of the American Revolution, he and Benjamin Franklin negotiated the peace treaty with England known as the Treaty of Paris.

Jay served as secretary of foreign affairs until the government was organized under the new Constitution of the United States. George Washington appointed him to be the first chief justice of the Supreme Court. In that role, he was sent to England in 1794 to negotiate a treaty to clear up problems that remained from the Treaty of Paris. This treaty became known as the Jay Treaty.

Jay remained on the Supreme Court until 1 when he resigned to become governor of New York. He died in 1829.