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John Jay Position: Federalist


 * New York Representative:** In a primarily anti-federalist state, John Jay had to persuade those he was representing to side with him in the idea of adopting a new constitution. These 60,000 people were mostly farmers of wheat and grain and merchants who often traded with Britain and the West Indies. The fear of having a tariff on their goods was high, and having a new, stronger, more unified government would increase the chances of this event happening.


 * Occupation and Background:** John Jay was born on December 12, 1745 in New York. He attended Columbia University, and soon made many influential friends that would ultimately lead him into politics. Coming out of College, John was employed as a law clerk for a lawyer and politician by the name of Benjamin Kissam. Jay then studied hard and was soon admitted to the Bar of New York where he studied law even further and eventually in 1771 opened his own law office.


 * Constitutional Convention:** As a representative from New York you would expect this man to be an anti-federalist and strongly oppose the idea of developing a new constitution that would make the central government more powerful. However, John Jay was a strong federalist who had over the recent years developed a strong liking to the idea, and would even persuade his fellow New Yorkers to do the same. As one of the three writers of the federalist papers, he would be a tremendous influence on anyone who would attend the convention. He was going for one sole purpose, to write a new constitution and to abolish the articles due to their lack of power.


 * Ratification:** John Jay, the federalist that he was, did vote in favor of ratifying the new constitution, and was well known for trying to get the rest of the state to do the same.


 * Connections:** As it is well known, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton all took part in the writing of the Federalist papers. While not only having ties with two of Americas founding fathers, he was also one of George Washington's closest advisors and friends. John Jay was a federalist at heart and would most likely be one of the first to side with a federalist view and often expressed his opinions through letters to his closest friends such as George Washington. Needless to say the only opposition that faced Jay were the anti-federalists: Grant Lee, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Patrick Henry.

John Jay " Arguments for Adopting the Proposed Federal Constitution," //Annals of American History.// < [] > [Accessed February 13, 2013].

=John Jay and George Washington " On the Inadequacies of the Central Government," // Annals of American History. //= =< [] > = =[Accessed February 13, 2013]. =

//A World History Encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.