2-329-797 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

John Jay, American statesman, from a print published in 1783, (c1880). One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Jay (1745-1829) was President of the Continental Congress from 1778-1779 and, together with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, was one of the authors of The Federalist Papers. From 1789-1795 he served as the first Chief Justice of the United States. Jay then became Governor of New York, as which he was a prominent opponent of slavery, overseeing the passing of emancipation legislation in the state in 1799. A print from Cassell's History of the United States, by Edmund Ollier, Volume II, Cassell Petter and Galpin, London, c1880.