House of Lords Gallery 1783

 With

 John Jay, John Adams and John Quincy Adams

          In late October 1783, something remarkable happened.  American Peace negotiators John Jay, John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams sat in the gallery of the House of Lords and watched the formal presentation of the Prince of Wales’ at his twenty-first birthday.[1]  It must have been a strange feeling for them to be sitting in the seat of power of their recent former enemy.  Conversely, it may have been unsettling for the members of the House of Lords to know those three former rebels sat in the audience.   There is something else about this meeting of Jay, Adams and Adams.  These men carried a strong Christian worldview with them and along with that a strong conviction against slavery. 

          John Jay became President of the American Bible Society between 1822 and 1825.  John Quincy Adams served as Vice President of the American Bible Society between 1818 and 1848.   John Adams had a strong Christian worldview also as you can see in his writings.  David McCullough on page 19 of John Adams stated:  “John Adams was both an intellectual and a Christian and saw no contradiction between the two.”  Also you can check out John Adams (and Abigail as well) in my book 1776 Faith.  For those who posit that he is a Unitarian, why does he give such strong Trinitarian language in his recommendations for two days of prayer when he served as President under the Constitution?
          In John Adams 1st recommendation (I love and seize upon that word recommend- people did not get guillotined if they did not participate) of a day of prayer  on March 23, 1798.  In that proclamation, Adams mentions the Father of mercies, our blessed Redeemer and the holy spirit.  The "great Unitarian" does it again and talks of the Trinity again in his March 6, 1799 recommendation of a day of prayer.  What I have seen in John Adams while a student, while a young man, while fighting for the American Revolution and while serving as President of the United States under the Constitution, I see a consistent Christian worldview.  He may stray away after 1815 or so but while helping with the American Revolution and helping establish the Constitution and serving under that Constitution, I see a consistent Christian worldview.

          John Quincy Adams defended the Africans in the Amistad court case and was noted as being against slavery.  John Adams did not own slaves and never wanted to get involved in having any slaves.  Horace Greeley attributed the outlawing of slavery in New York to John Jay.  Jay served as President of the Manumission Society.  It is noted that Jay purchased slaves so as to free them.  Let us say that in today’s terms the cost of a slave would be the price of a car.  How many of us would just buy a car and then give it away to a stranger? 

          If my research is correct, I may descend from an indentured servant from Scotland.  If not, I have come across many like William Washington who served as an indentured servant for no less than George Washington himself.  There is a May 1775 Maryland Gazette that states: “William Webster, escaped slave.”  My family is not of the silver spoon variety.  Jay eventually gave them freedom for their limited years of service. 

          It doesn’t end there with Jay.  He helped found an African Free School in New York City in 1787.  In 1788 it started with 56 students and by 1834 had educated over 1,000 students.  The year 1834 is the year that the Manumission Society handed the school over to New York City.[2]  Jay as governor of New York passed An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1799.

          Jay became good friends with William Wilberforce who was the driving force to stop slavery in the British Empire.  You can check out their correspondence in my book Can a Chief Justice Love God?: The Life of John Jay as well as reading John Jay’s Correspondence.

          Please do not tell me that all the Founders were deists and that all the Founders were slave owners.  Look at these guys in the House of Lords gallery.

          John Adams played a large role in the constitution of Massachusetts.  In that state constitution, slavery was outlawed in Massachusetts.

          Frederick Douglass and Dr. King would have some nice things to say about these guys.  In 1854 Horace Greeley stated: "To Chief Justice Jay may be attributed, more than any other man, the abolition of Negro bondage in this [New York] state." Abraham Lincoln seized upon the idea that the Founders passed on to him “four score and seven years” later that we are all created equal in the sight of God.

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[1] Stahr, Walter.  John Jay: Forgotten Founder.  New York:  Hambleton and London         Press, 2005.  p. Stahr, Walter.  John Jay: Forgotten Founder.  New York:          

[2] http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/07/founders-and-slavery