John Jay Freed Slaves And Fought For Change

John Jay was the Governor of New York from 1795 to 1801 and later became the first Secretary of State for the USA. During his career, Jay fought to free slaves from their masters. After he became Chief Justice, he continued his efforts to free every man, woman, and child. Even as Jay continued to fight for basic freedoms, he would buy slaves and only free them as adults after he judged their labors were a reasonable term for the price he paid for them.

When the emancipation proclamation was passed, he was still in possession of eight slaves. John Jay was able to celebrate the abolishing of slaves in New York before he passed away. He also founded and was president of the New York Manumission Society in 1785, which organized boycotts against newspapers and merchants who were involved in the slave trade.