7. John Jay was the third man to publish essays under the name of Publius
John Jay grew up in Rye, New York, entering King’s College in 1760, at the age of 14. A member of the New York bar from 1768, Jay spent the pre-Revolutionary War years practicing law. For a time he supported reconciliation with the British Parliament through legal redress of grievances. By 1776, Jay supported independence, and he spent the war years working toward that goal. He served in the First and Second Continental Congresses, including as President of the latter from late 1778 to September of 1779, one of the most tumultuous years of the war. Jay then served as Minister to Spain, where he extracted a loan from the government for the United States, but he failed to gain Spanish recognition of American independence. He then joined the peace conference in Paris which ended the war and achieved British recognition of the United States of America.
On his return to America, he served in the Articles of Confederation Congress as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, where he experienced first-hand the weakness of the federal government. Jay recognized that a strong national foreign policy was impossible under the government of the Articles. He sided with Madison and Hamilton to create a strong central government. He particularly noted that the Congress had no authority to enforce its actions in any area. “In short, they may consult, and deliberate, and recommend, and make requisitions, and they who please may regard them”, he wrote. Jay was the third man of the triumvirate who fought for ratification via the Federalist Papers, though his contribution was small. Ill health prevented him from contributing more than five articles. Nor did he participate in the Constitutional Convention. His support of the constitution came from his experience with the weakness of the Articles of Confederation.