(June 16, 1789–October 14, 1858), was the son of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the father of John Jay, the influential diplomat. He was a successful attorney, author and judge in Westchester County, New York. William Jay took the unpopular and politically incorrect stance of opposing slavery, and, in 1833, helped found the New York City Anti-Slavery Society. He was a founder of the American Bible Society, 1816, and served as the director of the American Tract Society.
William Jay wrote several books against slavery, including: 2 1835; Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, 1853; War and Peace: The Evils of the First and a Plan for Preserving the Last, 1842; and, in 1849, wrote this testimony in the introduction to one of his works:
The writer is a believer in the Divine authority of the Scriptures—he acknowledges no standard of right and wrong but the Will of God, and denies the expediency of any act which is forbidden by laws dictated by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness.
This avowal will prepare the reader to find in the following pages many opinions not having the stamp of public approbation. Patriotism, honor, glory, and national prosperity, are terms to which the Christian and the mere politician attach different ideas, and estimate by different standards.
He who admits the authority of the Bible will not readily acknowledge that whatever is “highly esteemed among men” must be right, nor that which is unpopular is, of course, wrong.1992