John Jay at Hale Brynes House August 12, 2017

John Jay at Hale Brynes House August 12, 2017

John Jay spoke about his career at the Hale Brynes House near Newark, Delaware on Saturday August 12, 2017.

Hale Brynes House historical marker which highlights the meeting place where Washington, Lafayette, Nathanael Greene met and strategized in 1777

Hale Brynes House

Kim Burdick introducing John Jay

Syracuse University magazine Reenact Highlights John Jay/ Phil Webster

Syracuse University showing love and attention to John Jay

The Nation's Most Forgotten Founding Father

The Syracuse University grad school of Communications has started a magazine for Reenactors entitled reenactmag. Jasmine Gomez did an article on John Jay on June 29, 2017 and you can check it out on (Rachel George did the great photography).

john jay interpreter headshot
As a John Jay interpreter, Webster is determined to bring Jay the historical recognition that he deserves. “John Jay isn’t feeling the love yet, but we’re working on it,” he says (photo credit: Rachel George).

John Jay Throwing Clay Pipe to Show stopping of subservience to French diplomacy at Treaty of Paris

John Jay Throwing Clay Pipe to Show stopping of subservience to French diplomacy at Treaty of Paris

John Jay threw his pipe into the fireplace to signify the stopping of the practice of being subservient to the French diplomacy of the Treaty of Paris. Jay felt that the United States would get nowhere unless we dealt directly as an independent nation in our diplomacy. Dr. Franklin finally agreed. Keep in mind all of Franklin's work to get the French to help us in terms of getting an alliance with France, getting French monetary support as well as the assistance of French ships and troops.

John Jay Press Conference at Chestertown MD

John Jay Press Conference at Chestertown MD

The United States Suffers From a Vitamin Jay Deficiency: Remedy is John Jay

The United States Suffers From a Vitamin Jay Deficiency

The seven pillars of the Founding Fathers are:
George Washington
John Adams
Ben Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Alexander Hamilton
John Jay
James Madison

Many people would question the inclusion of John Jay. When people study the Founders in depth, they will see the in-depth contributions of John Jay. Here are some of the tasks that he undertook.

Member of Continental Congress
Chairman of Committee to Detect Conspiracies (which found out the plot to kidnap and kill George Washington- Thomas Hickey was hanged)
Colonel of New York Militia
Brought cannons from Salisbury Connecticut to Fort Montgomery
Wrote New York's first Constitution when they broke away from England
New York Chief Justice
President of Continental Congress
Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain
Negotiator for Treaty of Paris 1783
Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1784-1789
Secretary of State 1789-1790
Chief Justice of Supreme Court
2nd Governor of New York State who outlawed slavery in the state of New York
President of American Bible Society

John Jay recently revisited Philadelphia by means of reenactor Phil Webster. He stopped by Carpenters Hall, the new Museum of the American Revolution City Tavern and Old City Hall (Supreme Court building next to Independence Hall). Mr. Jay went to Philadelphia with Chesapeake Tours and really enjoyed seeing Philadelphia.

Snubs against John Jay

Looking at New York celebrations of the Fourth of July, I saw your festival. I was wondering if you would ever like a presentation from John Jay. John Jay is consistently snubbed in books and presentations about the American Revolution. Here are some current snubs: In a new book "Of Arms and Artists" John Jay's picture is cut out of the Signing of the Treaty of Paris


In the otherwise great work "John Adams" on HBO, Jefferson gets the spotlight in Paris and there is not a peep on John Jay. Since Franklin was ill and Adams was in Holland, Jay did a lot of the negotiating and drafting the Treaty.

In the recent "Turn" series on AMC, Jay is also not mentioned. However, if you go on the CIA website, you will see that the three most influential spymasters of the American Revolution were Washington, Franklin and Jay.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/the-founding-fathers-of-american-intelligence/art-1.html

If you look at the evidence, Jay was the director of the Committee for Discovering Conspiracies. In the period coming up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Jay's committee sniffed out a conspiracy to kidnap and kill Washington. Consider if Jay had not sniffed out the plot to kidnap and kill Washington. What would have happened to the American Revolution and the signers of the Declaration of Independence if Washington had been killed.

When I went to Fraunces Tavern in 2015, there was nothing showing the work that Jay did to establish trade with many nations as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1784 to 1789 and the first Secretary of State from April 30, 1789 until May 1790. Nations from Asia, Africa and Europe started their contact with the United States trough John Jay. When I brought this to the attention of Fraunces Tavern, I told them that I wrote about and appeared in character as John Jay. "John Jay is not feeling the love, man." The attendant smiled in agreement.

John Jay will have his day. He is just the Founding Father that our times needs. As the second governor of New York, he outlawed slavery. He helped start a Free African School in New York City. Jay was a good friend of William Wilberforce in England.

You can see my books on Amazon. The newest book 1787 FAITH is dedicated to John Jay.

https://www.amazon.com/Phil-Webster/e/B003UDJQCM/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Recommendations for John Jay portrayal by Phil Webster

I had the privilege of presenting Ben Franklin's views and values to an audience in Annapolis, MD recently. By my side was Phil Webster, the perfect John Jay for that or any evening. Phil's John Jay was totally believable, bringing Jay's views to life with much more detail and historical accuracy than I'm sure the audience expected. Phil's awareness of Jay and the historical context in which he lived and worked is enormous. Additionally, Phil is a generous and modest fellow, and altogether a pleasure to work with.

Chris Lowell (www.benfranklinlive.com)