JAY, JOHN (1745-1829), American statesman and jurist, son of Peter Jay, a wealthy New York merchant of Huguenot descent, was born in New York city on Dec. 12, 1745. He grad uated from King's college (now Columbia University) in 1764, was admitted to the bar in 1768 and soon developed a successful practice. In 1774 he married Sarah Livingston, thus connecting himself with one of New York's most prominent families. In the controversy which led to the independence of the United States, Jay was active in resisting British coercive measures and though extremely reluctant to accept the policy of separation from the British Empire, became one of the most ardent supporters of the patriot cause.
A member of the First Continental Congress (1774), he was en trusted with drawing up an address to the people of Great Britain. In the second Congress he prepared addresses to the people of Canada and of Jamaica and Ireland (1775). While still a member of this body he was absent from its sessions in the summer of 1776 attending the provincial congress of New York and thus lost the opportunity of signing the Declaration of Independence. How ever, he drafted the resolutions which authorized the New York delegation to sign. In 1777 he was chairman of the committee which drafted the New York State Constitution, and shortly of ter became the first chief justice of the State. The following year he returned to the Continental Congress and on Dec. Io, 1778 became its president.
In the autumn of 1779 Jay was sent to Spain to seek an alliance somewhat similar to the one already existing with France. He was to guarantee the Floridas to Spain in case of Britain's defeat, and in return was to reserve to the United States the free navigation of the Mississippi ; he was also to solicit a subsidy and a loan of $5,000,000. Spain had already entered the war as an ally of France, but she feared to imperil her own colonial interests by directly aiding the revolt of Britain's former colonies. Hence her Government withheld recognition of the United States and received Jay only informally. In May 1780, however, the Spanish minister, Count de Florida Blanca, intimated to him that an agreement might be reached if the free navigation of the Mississippi were waived. Af ter months of fruitless discussion he was authorized by Congress (in Feb. 1781) to make concessions on this point. This he did against his own better judgment, but made the offer con ditioned upon immediate acceptance. The Spanish Government had not acted when news came of the surrender of Yorktown, and considering the treaty no longer worth a sacrifice Jay withdrew it. He was little more successful in his efforts to obtain Sloan. By pledging his personal responsibility he finally induced the Spanish minister to aid him (to the extent of about $150,000) in meeting some of the bills which Congress recklessly drew upon him ; others he was forced to protest and the credit of his Government was saved only by a timely subsidy from France.
On his return to New York in July 1784 Jay was received with much enthusiasm, was presented with the freedom of the city and elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. In the follow ing December he resigned his seat to become Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His experience in diplomacy together with his forceful personality and judicial mind enabled him to raise the uncertain status of this position to one of dignity and prestige. He proposed to Congress a plan under which the outstanding matters of dispute with Great Britain might be adjusted by a mixed commission. Although Congress took no action in the matter, Jay's advocacy of the principle of arbitration is regarded as significant in the light of the later importance of the principle in American history.
Always a strong advocate of centralization, Jay took an active part in the movement for the ratification of the Federal Constitu tion. He wrote, over the name "Publius," Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 64 of the famous papers known collectively as The Federalist (see HAMILTON, ALEXANDER). In further defence of the Constitution he published anonymously An Address to the People of New York, and ably seconded Hamilton in the convention at Poughkeepsie in obtaining ratification on the part of his State. When Washing ton became president under the new Government, Jay was ap pointed chief justice of the supreme court, which position he held from Sept. 1789 to June 1795. The most famous case that came before him was that of Chisolm v. Georgia in which the question was whether a State can be sued by a citizen of another State. Jay decided against Georgia on the ground that in America sov ereignty rested in the people and not in a State. This decision led to the adoption of the irth amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits any suit being brought in the Federal courts against any State by a citizen of another State or by a foreign citizen or subject.
One of the most famous acts of Jay's career was the negotiation of a treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1794, known as the Jay Treaty (q.v.), which adjusted several of the points of dispute outstanding between the two countries since the close of the Revolutionary War. Returning from England in 1795 Jay found that he had just been elected governor of New York. He served in this capacity until 1801 when he permanently retired from public life.
Aristocratic by temperament, conservative and strongly nation alist in political philosophy, Jay stood with Alexander Hamilton and John Adams as among the foremost leaders of the Federalist Party, in opposition to the more democratic and particularistic Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson. Though pos sessed of a certain vanity which sometimes proved his undoing, he was brilliant, capable and of spotless integrity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (New York, 1890-93), edited by H. P. Johnston; W. Jay, Life of John Jay with Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers (New York, 1833) ; W. Whitelock, Life and Times of John Jay (New York, 1887) ; G. Pellew, John Jay (Boston, 1890) ; Samuel Flagg Bemis, ed., The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, "John Jay," in vol. i. (New York, 1927). (A. M. A.) JAY (Garrulus glandarius), a member of the crow family and the type of the subfamily Garrulinae. It inhabits the whole of Europe south of 64° N. and is fairly common in the wooded districts of Great Britain, where, however, it is remorselessly persecuted by gamekeepers and is consequently very shy. The body is cinnamon-coloured, the tail-coverts white and the wings contain patches of vivid blue and black striped feathers, used by fishermen for artificial flies. The voice is a harsh scream. The jay, despite its shyness, is a lively bird with an insatiable curiosity. The nest is placed in a tree or bush and in it are laid four to seven eggs of a greenish-white colour closely freckled with light olive. The flight is weak, and on the ground the bird hops. During the breeding season it is almost wholly silent. Its food includes fruits, insects, carrion, and during the spring and summer, eggs and young birds. In east Russia its range overlaps that of the allied G. brandti, which is distributed thence across Siberia to Japan.
In America the commonest forms are the extremely tame Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis), often called the "whisky jack," which has a very sombre coloration, and the beautiful blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) of eastern North America. Both have habits somewhat similar to the European species. The latter has a considerable talent for mimicry. Allied to the Canada jay is the Siberian jay (Lanius infaustus) of northern Europe and Asia. Like the Canada jay, it inhabits pine forests.