Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Mini Tour of the Jay Homestead

Entrance:
Exposed beams:

Clock face:


The first seal of the newly-minted State of New York (co-designed by John Jay) features the sun rising over New York's three mountain ranges:

Commission for John Jay as first Chief Justice of New York State (signed October 17, 1777):

The Commission states, in the style and spelling of the period:
The People of the State of New York by the Grace of God free and independant to our trusty and well beloved John Jay Esquire Greeting. We reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty Learning and Integrity Have appointed asssigned and constituted ... you the said John Jay to be our Chief Justice of the Supream Court of Judicature of our said State .... for and during such Time as you shall well behave yourself therein or until you shall attain the age of Sixty years. ...
Witness our trusty and well beloved George Clinton Esquire our Governor of our said State General and Commander in Chief of all the Militia and admiral of the Navy....
A number of cool things about this, of course, including the lack of punctuation and idiosyncratic spelling. Although military technology was obviously not what is is today, just think - a state governor had a militia and navy at his command! (Boy, those were the days, eh?)

Intriguingly, just 15 years later the "trusty and well beloved" Jay ran for governor against the "trusty and well beloved" Clinton (who had tenaciously remained in office all this time). Apparently, there were more total votes cast for Jay than for Clinton, but the ballots from Otsego County (a Jay stronghold) were disregarded because they were delivered by a sheriff whose commission had expired. The decision to disregard the Otsego ballots was made by the canvassers, who apparently split along party lines on the issue.... But don't worry, Jay won the next election fair and square while he was overseas on another diplomatic mission (negotiating Jay's Treaty).

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