John Jay (1745–1829) was a lawyer and a statesman, who from 1781 to 1784, had been the leading United States Commissioner treating with Great Britain for peace during the American War of Independence. From 1784 to 1788, he was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and, like George Washington, strongly advocated a federal constitution. In 1789, the newly-elected President Washington appointed Jay as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Jay served as Governor of New York from 1795 until his retirement in 1801. In 1794, Jay was sent to Britain to negotiate a treaty with the British government in order to relieve tensions between the two nations. Known as the 'Jay Treaty' this agreement, while unpopular with France and many in the United States of America, avoided war with Britain and resolved issues that had remained undefined in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

This volume of John Jay’s correspondence was presented to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) during his visit to the United States in 1860. At that time he used one of his lesser titles, Lord Renfrew, as an incognito. The flyleaf of the volume is inscribed: ‘For, Lord Renfrew, with the compliments of John Jay. The Jay Homestead, Bedford, Westchester County, Newyork. October 10. 1860.’