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John Jay Supreme Court

First Supreme Court Established

On this day in 1789, the Judiciary Act of 1789 establishes the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. Congress passed the act and then President George Washington signed it.

Additionally, the Act contains the phrase “so help me God” four times.

Originally, Article 3 of the Constitution established the Supreme Court.

First Supreme Court Chief Justice

Later that day, President Washington nominates John Jay as the first chief justice, as well as five associate justices. Then, all of his appointments were confirmed by the Senate on September 26.

John Jay was one of our founding fathers. As such, he was President of Congress, Secretary of State, Diplomat, Author of the Federalist Papers, and Governor of New York.

Here are just a couple quotes from John Jay that give us an idea how he lived, and perhaps, how he judged:

“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”

“I recommend a general and public return of praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend. The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from which they flow.”

First Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay

 

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John Jay Supreme Court
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Supreme Court : First Meeting, First Chief Justice

On this day in 1790, the Supreme Court of the United States meets for the first time. John Jay, appointed by George Washington, was the first Chief Justice. Jay was a Patriot, a Founding Father, a statesman, and a diplomat. As such, he was one of the signers of the Treaty of Paris.

He wrote this, in part to his eldest son, Peter, in 1784:
The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.

Additionally, Jay also served as President of the Continental Congress and the Governor of New York. In fact, he was the only Founding Father that was also a native New Yorker.

Finally, on June 29, 1826, about three years before his death, he wrote this to the Committee of the Corporation of the City of New York:

“I recommend a general and public return of praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend. The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from which they flow.”

John Jay Supreme Court

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Sara Margru Kinson
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America, Africa, and Amistad: Free to Serve

On this day in 1841, the Supreme Court rules on the mutiny staged by African slaves aboard the Amistad. The had been illegally forced into slavery, and so, are free under American law.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States (1825-1829) was part of the Africans’ defense team. He argued that they “were entitled to all the kindness and good offices due from a humane and Christian nation.” Read more about that, HERE.

It was not until November 1841, that the thirty-five Amistad survivors sailed back to Africa, accompanied by several missionaries. Abolitionists had cared for them in the interim.

Sarah and Sierra

Margru, one of those survivors, was just a child when she taken aboard the ship as a slave. When she returned to Sierra Leone she served as an evangelical missionary, with the name Sarah Margru Kinson. Then, in 1846, Sarah became the only Amistad captive to return to the United States where she studied at Ohio’s Oberlin College. In fact, she was the first female international student in America. Finally, in 1849, she returned to the mission she helped to establish in Sierra Leone, this time, as a teacher.

Sarah Margru Kinson Amistad

 

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