Volume 4 of The Selected Papers of John Jay opens in January 1785 as John Jay assumes office as secretary for foreign affairs and brings system and order to the long-neglected Department of Foreign Affairs. It explores Jay's administration of all aspects of American foreign affairs, including his efforts to implement the peace treaty with Great Britain, facilitate American trade, and renegotiate an intrusive consular treaty with France. It examines Jay's divisive negotiations with Diego de Gardoqui and his politically embarrassing dispute with Lewis Littlepage. It depicts his antislavery efforts as president of the New-York Manumission Society and his participation in the Americanization of the Episcopal Church. It documents his promotion of constitutional change as the weaknesses of the Confederation thwart diplomacy and his defense of the proposed new Constitution as an author of The Federalist and of a far more influential pamphlet. The volume closes as Jay takes leave of absence from office to support ratification of the Constitution as delegate to the New York Ratifying Convention. Access to people, places, and events in the volume is facilitated by detailed annotation, illustrations, a biographical directory, and a comprehensive index.

Volume 7 of The Selected Papers of John Jay opens in 1799 with John Jay well into his second term as governor of New York. After overseeing the passage of the law for gradually abolishing slavery in March 1799, Jay's administration faltered in its final months due to an ascendant Republican Party and a subsequent paralyzing conflict with the Council of Appointment. Retirement from public service in May 1801 provided a welcome opportunity to focus on family and farming, yet Jay's domestic enjoyment was upended the following year by the untimely loss of his beloved wife and partner, Sarah Livingston Jay. Although rarely away from his Bedford homestead, Jay did participate, albeit in a limited manner, in political and religious affairs. The volume discusses his role in advising and assisting Federalist leaders during the War of 1812, his engagement with the Episcopal Church, and his leadership of the American Bible Society starting in 1821. Moreover, Jay maintained a steady correspondence with several individuals who sought information about the revolutionary conflict and the founding of the American republic. Volume 7 concludes with coverage of Jay's declining health and diminished activities during the 1820s and his eventual death as he succumbed to illness on May 17, 1829.

Volume 6 opens with John Jay aboard the Ohio, bound for London in May 1794, to begin what will prove to be the most controversial mission of his career: the negotiation of the treaty that now bears his name. The volume documents the series of proposals and drafts that culminated in the treaty, as well as the mounting criticism against the treaty from the time of its reception on American shores to its ratification in the Senate. Soon after his return to New York in May 1795, Jay took up a new public office as recently elected governor of that state. The volume covers the policies formulated and implemented by Jay's administration-including those related to Indian affairs, outbreaks of infectious disease, judicial and penal reform, and the state's inadequate military defenses-and looks ahead to his second term.

This volume opens in June 1782 with the arrival of John Jay in Paris to join Benjamin Franklin in negotiation of the peace treaty with Great Britain. Exploring Jay's controversial insistence on British recognition of American independence prior to the opening of negotiations and his disregard of congressional instructions to take no action without the knowledge and consent of France, it examines his unsuccessful negotiations with Spain and the failure to obtain a commercial treaty with Great Britain. It also documents the social and domestic life of the Jays in France and Jay's visit to England to improve his health and settle a family inheritance. The volume closes with Jay's homecoming to America, his public acclaim in New York, and his acceptance of the post of secretary for foreign affairs. Access to people, places, and events in the volume is facilitated by detailed annotation, illustrations, a biographical directory, and a comprehensive index.

The publication of this volume has been supported by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.