He Left The Top Of The Supreme Court For A Job He Thought Mattered More

John Jay

Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!

John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the United States, but he found the job so underwhelming — a Court that heard only a handful of cases, plus miserable circuit-riding duty — that in 1795 he resigned outright. What did he leave the nation’s top judicial post to go do?

Hint: While still on the bench, he negotiated the 1794 Jay Treaty with Britain which was so reviled that he was denounced as a traitor and burned in effigy up and down the coast.

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