JOHN JAY, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1789-1795, said “Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country, and teach the rising generation to be free…By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them…The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of…choosing the forms of government under which they should live…Your lives, your liberties, your property, will be at the disposal only of your Creator and yourselves. You will know no power but such as you will create; no authority unless derived from your grant; no laws but such as acquire all their obligation from your consent…Security is also given to the rights of conscience and private judgment. They are by nature subject to no control but that of the Deity…Every man is permitted to consider, to adore, and to worship his Creator in the manner most agreeable to his conscience…”
A summary of key points:
We have thrown off repressive control of a foreign country. Jay emphasized that the Revolution was really about throwing off the bonds with Britain, which shifted from being a benevolent mother country to a despotic overlord. In effect, it had become tantamount to a foreign nation. It represented the old world. Its former colonies, particularly New York, were different, fresh in their outlook, determined to go their own way. That was a fundamental insight into why the Revolution began. “The time will now never arrive when the prince of a country in another quarter of the globe will command your obedience, and hold you in vassalage,” the new Chief Justice said. “His consent has ceased to be necessary to enable you to enact laws essential to your welfare. Nor will you in future be subject to the imperious sway of rulers instructed to sacrifice your happiness whenever it might be inconsistent with the ambitious views of their royal master.”
Americans are the first people in history to assert how they will govern themselves. Jay’s “Charge” emphasized that the new governments being set up in New York and the other twelve new states were unprecedented, a radical break from anything in the past, a new departure for humankind. “The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favoured with an opportunity of deliberating upon, and choosing the forms of government under which they should live.”
The Constitution establishes self-government. Jay reiterated that under the new state constitution state government derived all its authority from the people it governed. Government would be subservient to the people, not the other way around. “Your lives, your liberties, your property, will be at the disposal only of your Creator and yourselves. You will know no power but such as you will create; no authority unless derived from your grant; no laws but such as acquire all their obligation from your consent.”
Freedom of conscience and religion. Jay emphasized what was in the Constitution by way of personal protection: conscience and religion. “Adequate security is also given to the rights of conscience and private judgment. They are by nature subject to no control but that of the Deity, and in that free situation they are now left. Every man is permitted to consider, to adore, and to worship his Creator in the manner most agreeable to his conscience. No opinions are dictated, no rules of faith prescribed, no preference given to one sect to the prejudice of others.”
Courts will guarantee legal rights and justice. The Chief Justice noted that this grand jury in effect was launching the new state’s judicial proceedings. Everyone had a right to justice and would receive equitable treatment in the courts, he stressed. “No person in this State, however exalted or low his rank, however dignified or humble his station, but has a right to the protection of, and is amenable to, the laws of the land; and if those laws be wisely made and duly executed, innocence will be defended, oppression punished, and vice restrained.
Read the constitution. The State Constitution was brief (about 6,500 words, not counting the Declaration of Independence which was included as a prelude) and written in clear, understandable language. It was meant to be read, studied, and deliberated. “Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country, and teach the rising generation to be free,” Jay said. By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them.”
“Country” is a striking term here. Jay apparently meant the new state, which was somewhat akin to a country. But he was also eluding to the larger confederation of thirteen states, in the process of becoming a nation, though not one with a constitution yet. Even the Articles of Confederation had not yet been adopted when Jay spoke. That happened the next year, 1778.
In his reference to “country,” Jay was unintentionally previewing something of his own future. He partnered with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin to negotiate the 1783 treaty with Britain ending the war. He served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the confederation government. A supporter of the movement that led to the formulation of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, he wrote five of the essays in “The Federalist” series which supported ratification of the document. He served as first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1789-1795, reprising on the national level his service as New York’s first Chief Justice. Returning to New York, he served as the state’s second governor, 1795-1801.
FOR MORE SEE: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs155/1108762609255/archive/1113452271128.html
