REMEMBERING NON-REVISED HISTORY: JUNE 05, 2013

John Jay

The First Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States (1789–95)
A Founding Father of the United States
President of the Continental Congress (1778–79)
Signer of the Treaty of Paris
Minister (Ambassador) to Spain, France
Secretary of Foreign Affairs

On 'One Nation Under God'

Biography
John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, signer of the Treaty of Paris, and the first Chief Justice of the United States (1789–95).

Jay was born into a wealthy family of merchants and government officials in New York City. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence and organized opposition to British rule. He joined a conservative political faction that, fearing mob rule, sought to protect property rights and maintain the rule of law while resisting British violations of human rights. » Full Bio

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This Day In History 290 Years Ago

June 5, 1723

Adam Smith, Author of The Wealth of Nations,
is Baptized in Scotland

The American Revolutionary War

On this day in 1723, Adam Smith, future author of The Wealth of Nations (1776), a critique of the mercantilist model of trade in the British empire, is baptized in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

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While traveling and tutoring, Smith began writing The Wealth of Nations. In 1767, Smith returned to London just as Lord Townshend was imposing his revenue acts, which taxed goods the American colonies were only allowed to import from Great Britain--including the famed tax on tea. These types of trade relationships were the essence of mercantilism. All goods had to pass through and be taxed by the mother country on their way to and from the colonies. It was precisely this sort of restraint on trade that Adam Smith refuted as detrimental to the wealth of nations in his treatise, completed in 1776. The colonists' objections became a rebellion on July 4 of the same year; their treatise was entitled the Declaration of Independence. » Full Article

Significant Events This Day In History

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