4 Quotes & Sayings By John Jay

John Jay (1686-1746) was an American lawyer, educator, and philosopher. He was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and is generally recognized as having been a leading figure in the American Enlightenment. He was born in New York City, educated at Kings College (Columbia University) and practiced law in New York City before founding a private school in his home in Manhattan. Jay was a delegate to the Continental Congress and served on the Committee of Five which drafted and presented to King George III the "Declaration of Independence," which established the United States Read more

Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States when John Rutledge resigned in 1795. He held that position for less than a year, but he did write one important opinion, that "The Judiciary Department is derived from the People" which opened up to the judiciary many powers it had not previously had.

1
It has often given my pleasure to observe, that independent America was not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one connected fertile, wide-spreading country was the portion of our western sons of liberty. Providence has in a particular manner blessed it with a variety of soils and productions, and watered it with innumerable streams, for the delight and accommodation of its inhabitants. A succession of navigable waters form a kind of chain round its borders, as if to bind them together; while the most noble rivers in the world, running at convenient distances, present them with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and the mutual transportation of their various ties. With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence has been pleased to give us this one connected country to one united people -a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by they their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence. . John Jay
2
It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it. John Jay
3
No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent. John Jay