Lived: 1745-1829 John Jay was one of the American founding fathers and well as his nation's first Supreme Court Chief Justice. One of the more conservative founders, Jay, while certainly unhappy with much of what had been done in the name of the King in the colonies, had helped to draft the "Olive Branch Petition," in the hopes of reconciling with England. With the ultimate separation of the United States from England, Jay was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the new government. Jay also became a major proponent of the Constitution, writing several of the renowned Federalist Papers in favor of the new document and campaigning tirelessly for its passage in his home state of New York. His appointment to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by George Washington placed him in an impo