Posted on 01/14/2008 5:52:34 AM PST by Loud Mime
John Jay
John Jay authored Federalist Papers #2, #3, #4, #5 and #64. The first four concerned the dangers of foreign influence in U.S. politics and 64 concerned the powers of the Senate.
A Brief Biography of John Jay
John Jay's long and eventful life, from 1745 to 1829, encompassed the movement for American independence and the creation of a new nation — both processes in which he played a full part. His achievements were many, varied and of key importance in the birth and early years of the fledgling nation. Although he did not initially favor separation from Britain, he was nonetheless among the American commissioners who negotiated the peace with Great Britain that secured independence for the former colonies. Serving the new republic he was Secretary for Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation, a contributor to the Federalist, the first Chief Justice of the United States, negotiator of the 1794 "Jay Treaty" with Great Britain, and a two-term Governor of the State of New York. In his personal life, Jay embraced a wide range of social and cultural concerns.
His paternal grandfather, Augustus (1665-1751), established the Jay family's presence in America. Unable to remain in France when the rights of Protestants were abolished by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Augustus eventually settled in New York where, with an advantageous marriage and a thriving mercantile business, he established a strong foundation for his descendants. His son Peter, like Augustus a merchant, had ten children with his wife Mary Van Cortlandt, seven of them surviving into adulthood. John was the sixth of these seven. Shortly after John's birth, his family moved from Manhattan to Rye in order to provide a more salubrious environment for the raising of John's elder siblings, two of whom had been struck by blindness following the smallpox epidemic of 1739 and two others of whom suffered from mental handicaps.
Educated in his early years by private tutors, Jay entered the newly-founded King's College, the future Columbia University, in the late summer of 1760. There, he underwent the conventional classical education, graduating in 1764, when he became a law clerk in the office of Benjamin Kissam. On admission to the bar in 1768 Jay established a legal practice with Robert R. Livingston, Jr., scion of the "Lower Manor" branch of the Livingston family, before operating his own law office from 1771. Among other tasks during these years, Jay served as clerk of the New York-New Jersey Boundary Commission.
This is an excerpt. There is more at Columbia University’s Website. CLICK HERE for more information.
The University has a wonderful database of his materials here.
“As the select assemblies for choosing the President, as well as the State legislatures who appoint the senators, will in general be composed of the most enlightened and respectable citizens, there is reason to presume that their attention and their votes will be directed to those men only who have become the most distinguished by their abilities and virtue, and in whom the people perceive just grounds for confidence.”
John Jay, Federalist 64
Obviously, the 17th Amendment, which caused the Senators to be elected and represent the people instead of the States,
changed the entry requirements for the Senate. I would say that this was not an improvement.
“As to the position that "the people always mean well," that they always mean to say and do what they believe to be right and just - it may be popular, but it can not be true. The word people applies to all the individual inhabitants of a country. . . . That portion of them who individually mean well never was, nor until the millennium will be, considerable. Pure democracy, like pure rum, easily produces intoxication and with it a thousand pranks and fooleries. I do not expect mankind will, before the millennium, be what they ought to be and therefore, in my opinion, every political theory which does not regard them as being what they are, will prove abortive. Yet I wish to see all unjust and unnecessary discriminations everywhere abolished, and that the time may come when all our inhabitants of every color and discrimination shall be free and equal partakers of our political liberties.”
John Jay
“"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
John Jay to Jedidiah Morse February 28, 1797
"The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy."
John Jay Georgia v. Brailsford, 1794
“I saw one excellency was within my reach - it was brevity and I determined to obtain it.”
John Jay
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
John Jay, Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay
“Whether our religion permits Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question which merits more consideration than it seems yet to have generally received either from the clergy or the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet said to Jehoshaphat about his attachment to Ahab ["Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?" 2 Chronicles 19:2] affords a salutary lesson.”
John Jay [The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1794-1826, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p.365]
Web source
The only way to be loved is to be and to appear lovely; to possess and display kindness, benevolence, tenderness; to be free from selfishness and to be alive to the welfare of others.
John Jay
The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution."
Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
"Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue."
John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776
"Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them."
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
Thanks, Bigun!
Others:
Here's to the red of it,
There's not a thread of it,
No, not a shred of it,
In all the spread of it,
From foot to head,
But heroes bled for it,
Faced steel and lead for it,
Precious blood shed for it,
Bathing in red.
A Toast to the Flag – unknown
PING!
Founders bump.
Just started reading The Federalist Papers. Should be required reading in school.
John Jay was a titan. Of course, he was surrounded by such men.
Good Point! But it does make you wonder what happened to "the other guys." You know, the ones who were banging on the windows of the Constitutional Convention and crying to the press about being excluded from the "people's right to know."
I wonder how they kept those idiots at bay.
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
This quote has never been more true than in this campaign for the Republican nomination.
They kept the windows shut, if I recall, in sweltering heat.
About two years ago I went to a college campus and asked three questions:
What form of government do we have in the United States?
What is the only guarantee in the Constitution?
What are the Federalist Papers?
Only ONE person knew two answers - out of over 100 students.
Virtually every person had no correct answer.
You’re right, they should be a subject of study by every student.
"Understatement of the Day" Nomination here!
I doubt if they wore the costumes that the portrait depicted.
Was at it the John Jay College Of Criminal Justice (The City University of New York)????
because I have a feeling that, that school foists as much if not more misinformation about our republic as any of the other colleges across the nation.
Actually, it was at Cypress College in Cal-lee-fore-nee-yah, just down the street from where Tiger Woods went to high school.
Regarding the windows. That was the common thinking that it would prevent Disease, if I recall.
I love that quote about the jury, haven’t seen that before. It would change many outcomes of many trials if it still was practiced.
“The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.”
John Jay Georgia v. Brailsford, 1794
Isn't it the same as "Jury Nullification", which is practiced on occasion, today?
In addition, I found these quotes:
Men do not make laws. They do but discover them. Laws must be justified by something more than the will of the majority. They must rest on the eternal foundation of righteousness. That state is most fortunate in its form of government which has the aptest instruments for the discovery of law.
Calvin Coolidge, to the Massachusetts State Senate, January 7, 1914
I was summoned for jury duty some years ago, and during voir dire, the attorney asked me whether I could obey the judge's instructions. I answered, "It all depends upon what those instructions are." Irritatingly, the judge asked me to explain myself. I explained that if I were on a jury back in the 1850s, and a person was on trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Act by assisting a runaway slave, I would vote for acquittal regardless of the judge's instructions. The reason is that slavery is unjust and any law supporting it is unjust. Needless to say, I was dismissed from jury duty.
Walter Williams, 11 July 2007
I found the rest:
“A TOAST TO THE FLAG”
(c) by John Jay Daly
of Washington, D. C. (1888-1976)
Here’s to the Red of it –
There’s not a thread of it,
No, nor a shred of it
In all the spread of it,
From foot to head
But heroes bled for it,
Faced steel and lead for it,
Precious blood shed for it,
Bathing it Red!
Here’s to the White of it –
Thrilled by the sight of it,
Who knows the right of it
But feels the might of it
Through day and night?
Womanhood’s care for it
Made manhood dare for it;
Purity’s pray’r for it
Keeps it so White!
Here’s to the Blue of it –
Beauteous view of it,
Heavenly hue of it,
Star-spangled dew of it
Constant and true;
Diadems gleam for it,
Liberty’s beam for it
Brightens the Blue!
Here’s to the Whole of it –
Stars, stripes and pole of it,
Body and soul of it,
O, and the roll of it,
Sun shining through;
Hearts in accord for it
Swear by the sword for it,
Thanking the Lord for it,
Red, White and Blue!
Is it a guarantee that I won't be offended by any person, place or thing?
Health-care?
Happiness?
A large-screen HDTV?
I give up...what is it??
/ s
I loved each and every one of those quotes.
bttt
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens...”
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