Despite his youth, John Jay was not averse to controversy in his practice. In several instances, he locked horns with powerful attorney general John Tabor Kempe.1 The letters below concern the matter of Bloomer v. Hinchman and demonstrate Jay’s commitment to professional and personal honor.

In 1769, Governor Henry Moore named Joshua Bloomer (1735–90), an Anglican clergyman, to the vacant pulpit at Jamaica, N.Y. The churchwardens refused to pay Bloomer, and the minister retained John Jay and James Duane to represent him in a suit to gain his salary. The exchange of letters below was initiated by Jay upon learning that Kempe, acting for the governor as attorney general, was engaged in Chancery in arguing a demurrer2 pleaded by the vestrymen of the parish. As one of the counsel to Bloomer, Jay felt that the interests of his client as well as professional courtesy dictated consultation with all of Bloomer’s attorneys.

Jay opposed Kempe on yet another occasion in April 1773, when he defended Mayor Underhill of the borough town of Westchester in a contested election. The government, represented by Kempe, contended that unqualified voters had been permitted to vote in the election. Jay exploited a variety of procedural maneuvers to have the case postponed, in effect giving his client another three months of his term.3 Hard on the heels of the Underhill case was a mandamus issued against the officials of the town ordering them to admit Gilial Honeywell and Isaac Legget to the offices of aldermen, to which, the government contended, they had been duly elected. By dilatory tactics, Jay succeeded in keeping them out of their posts from July 1773 to April 1774.4 In both cases, Jay supported local authorities against the royal government.