John Jay helped shape American foreign policy, the federal judiciary and New York’s first constitution, yet he is often overshadowed by Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson. This episode explores the cautious, order-loving lawyer who became one of the most important, and most contradictory, architects of the early United States.

We follow Jay from his New York merchant family and the Olive Branch Petition to his turn toward independence after the burning of Norfolk, his difficult mission to Spain, and his hardball role in the Treaty of Paris. We also examine his Federalist Papers essays, his tenure as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the fierce backlash against the Jay Treaty of 1794.

• Why Jay refused to negotiate until Britain recognized American independence
• How he turned down Hamilton’s request for a Supreme Court advisory opinion
• The contradiction between his antislavery work and his own enslavement of people, including Abigail
• Being burned in effigy from Boston to Philadelphia over the Jay Treaty
• Why he rejected Hamilton’s 1800 electoral scheme and declined a second term as Chief Justice