By: History.com Editors

1778

John Jay is elected president of the Continental Congress

History.com Editors

Published: November 13, 2009

Last Updated: February 18, 2025

On December 10, 1778, John Jay, the former chief justice of the New York Supreme Court, is elected president of the Continental Congress. Jay, who graduated from King’s College (now Columbia University) at the age of 19, was a prominent figure in New York state politics from an early age. While Jay opposed British interference in the colonies, he was against complete independence from Great Britain.

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Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774 as a representative from New York, where he published a paper entitled Address to the People of Great Britain, in which he promoted a peaceful resolution with Great Britain instead of independence. Jay was reelected to the Second Continental Congress in 1775 but, upholding his opposition to complete independence from Great Britain, he resigned in 1776 rather than sign the Declaration of Independence.

Upon his return to New York, Jay helped draft the state’s constitution before his election as the state’s first chief justice in 1777. Despite his early misgivings about independence, Jay served as president of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and in 1782 signed the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain. He contributed to the The Federalist Papers, part of the successful campaign waged by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to win ratification for the Constitution in 1788 and 1789. Soon after, President George Washington appointed Jay as the first chief justice of the United States. In 1794, Jay negotiated his eponymous treaty with Britain to settle ongoing military and commercial disputes between the two nations. Although extremely unpopular with Jefferson’s Republicans, the Jay Treaty was ratified: Jay, however, resigned from the Supreme Court during the uproar over its passing. Still drawn to public service, Jay served as governor of New York from 1797 to 1801, when he retired from public life.

Timeline

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1690

First paper currency is authorized in the Colonies

On December 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and subsequent near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the first paper currency in the history of the Western Hemisphere. France and Britain periodically attacked each other’s North American colonies throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries. In 1690, during one such war, Governor William Phips […]

1830

Emily Dickinson is born

On December 10, 1830, Emily Dickinson is born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson was a witty and popular student at Amherst Academy and at Mt. Holyoke but was viewed as somewhat unconventional. She made a few trips to Philadelphia and Boston but rarely left Amherst. She preferred her home, where her stern lawyer father, invalid mother, […]

1869

Wyoming grants women the right to vote

Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. Western states led the nation in approving women’s suffrage, but some of them had rather unsavory motives. Though some men recognized the important role women […]

1898

Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War

In France, the Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire. The Spanish-American War had its origins in the rebellion against Spanish rule that began in Cuba in 1895. The repressive measures that Spain took to suppress the guerrilla war, such as herding Cuba’s […]

1901

First Nobel Prizes awarded

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite.

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1903

Marie and Pierre Curie are awarded Nobel Prize for their work with radium

On December 10, 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie are awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking investigations of radioactivity, sharing the prize with French scientist A. Henri Becquerel. The year before, the couple had successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris. In 1898, the Curies discovered […]

1905

O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” is published

Author O. Henry’s best-known and most beloved story, “The Gift of the Magi,” is published in the December 10, 1905 issue of New York Sunday World Magazine. It tells the poignantly ironic tale of a poor but devoted couple who each sacrifice their most valuable possession to buy a gift for the other. The following […]

1917

Red Cross is awarded Nobel Peace Prize

After three years of war, during which there had been no Nobel Peace Prize awarded, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the 1917 prize to the International Committee of the Red Cross. From the outbreak of World War I, the Nobel Committee had decided not to award its annual peace prize, stating officially that there had […]

1920

Woodrow Wilson awarded Nobel Peace Prize

On December 10, 1920, the Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for his work in ending the First World War and creating the League of Nations. Although Wilson could not attend the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, the U.S. Ambassador to Norway, Albert Schmedeman, delivered a telegram from Wilson to […]

1922

Canton Bulldogs claim NFL’s first title

On December 10, 1922, the Canton Bulldogs defeat the Toledo Maroons, 19-0, and are declared the first champion of the newly renamed National Football League. Canton finishes the season 10-0-2, allowing 15 points and producing nine shutouts. The league champion is determined by best regular-season record. “The Maroons never got within striking distance of Canton’s […]

1950

American diplomat Ralph Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize

For his peace mediation during the first Arab-Israeli war, American diplomat Ralph Joseph Bunche receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Bunche was the first African American to win the prestigious award. Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1904, he entered the field of U.S. diplomacy while serving in the Office of Strategic Services and […]

1967

Soul legend Otis Redding dies in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin

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1974

Sex scandal leads to political fallout for Arkansas congressman

Representative Wilbur D. Mills, a Democrat from Arkansas, resigns as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the aftermath of the first truly public sex scandal in American politics. On October 7, 1974, at 2 a.m., Mills was stopped by park police while driving at night with his lights off. The 65-year-old representative, an influential […]

1977

Soviets arrest dissidents on United Nations Human Rights Day

In Moscow, Soviet officials arrest four dissidents and prevent at least 20 others from attending a peaceful protest against communist political oppression on United Nations Human Rights Day. According to some of the protesters, Soviet officials threatened them with violence should the protest be held. The incident was more evidence of an increasingly hard line […]

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Citation Information

Article title
John Jay is elected president of the Continental Congress
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 25, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
February 18, 2025
Original Published Date
November 13, 2009

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