Sally Jay's Contribution to the Paris Peace Treaty

Sally Jay’s Impact on the Treaty of Paris 1783 Not much historical thought is given to Sally (Sarah) Jay. Not much focus is put upon her travel with her husband to Spain and then to France in the middle of the American Revolutionary War. Let us turn our focus on her huge impact on the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris 1783. If Sally Jay did not accompany her husband to Spain and then France, we might not have gotten a peace treaty.

The daughter of William Livingston came to become the wife of John Jay. It was difficult being newly married in April, 1774. She gave birth to Peter in January 1776. With New York in British hands she moved to different places during 1775-1779. (Elizabethtown, New Jersey; Fishkill, New York; Rye New York) Mrs. John Jay would have been a sought after target for the British and Tories. In one sense making the Atlantic crossing was not all that daunting for her, she was used to it. The British were after the Jays on land or on sea. If she was caught on a ship it would have probably been the Tower of London. If she was caught in New York or New Jersey there would have been equal difficulties.

The Jays left Chester Pennsylvania on October 1779. Her husband John has been President of Continental Congress the past year (1778) in Philadelphia and has now been sent to Spain as Minister Plenipotentiary to try to get Spain to officially recognize the United States and give us financial aid. The ship Confederacy gets hit by a fortnight storm (10-14 days) where the masts break and the rudder is damaged. One can imagine the sea-sicknesses and tendency of people to be down mentally in such conditions. Sally wrote to her mother when they finally limped into the island of Martinique. She said that John's characteristics shone like a diamond throughout the extended storm. I must add that she had similar qualities to not loose her head in such conditions. The French ship Aurora allowed them to go to Cadiz, Spain (they were pursued by a British ship). In rough lodging sometimes, the Jays made their way to Madrid eventually. On one instance the coach carrying them turned over. The Spanish did not want to recognize the United States and John kept going back and forth from Madrid to Aranjuez. Sally gave birth to Susan on July 9,1780. Susan died one month later. Sally could have been a basket case but in spite of her grief, she moved on. Her faith in God sustained her in these trials. Maria was born in Madrid on February 20, 1782. Franklin and Adams saw the futility of the Spanish negotiations and saw the need of assistance in Paris. They asked John to come join them so John and Sally travelled on May 21 to northern Spain, took a ship in the Bay of Biscay to Bayonne and from there to Paris and arrived there June 23 1782. In July 1783, the Jays moved in with Ben Franklin at Passy. Franklin became ill with severe kidney stones and Adams was away in Holland trying to secure loans from them. The lion share of the negotiations fell on John Jay. Adams later wrote that the French called Jay “le Washington of the negotiation.”

Getting back to Sally, she was the glue that held Jay together and made others feel welcome. A lot of the negotiations took place in the Jay’s hotel room at Hotel d’Orleans on rue Bonaparte. Having two very young children had an effect on the negotiators. Franklin in his later correspondence with Jay would always ask how Maria (18 months old) was doing. Maria made a bridge between Jay and Franklin. The time that Franklin spent with the Jays may have had an impact on Franklin. Franklin had quite a following in France; he might be called the Bill Gates of his day (and maybe even more so). He had a reputation of being a ladies’ man in France but his time with the Jays may have brought him back to reality. It could be a piece of the link that makes Franklin into the man that challenges the Constitutional Convention to remember the reason why they were not making any headway in the deliberations. Franklin told the Constitutional Convention that the reason why their deliberations did not get anywhere is because they did not commit the proceedings to prayer and allowing the God who causes empires to rise and fall to direct them.

Sally and Maria were also good for John Adams when he visited. Walter Stahr (in his book "John Jay: Forgotten Founder") on page 164 relates how Adams said that the three men lived together in perfect good humor. Sally and Maria helped make “the perfect good humor.” These men individually might have been sticks in the mud on specific points of negotiation but Sally and Maria were in charge of the perfect good humor. I dare say that the negotiations might have gone differently if not for the presence of Sally and Maria Jay.