Foiling a Plot to Kill George Washington
In 1776, the Committee was probing Loyalist plots to undermine the Continental Army in New York City prior to a large-scale British advance. In the course of that investigation, the Committee uncovered a fiendish plot against George Washington.
Washington, a spymaster himself, was chagrined to learn the espionage was in his own camp. A number of his elite bodyguards, known as his “Life Guard,” had allied themselves with the British and plotted to capture or assassinate their commanding general. Jay’s committee unraveled it all, saving Washington’s life and bringing the traitorous men to justice.
A Lasting Legacy
Jay’s wartime experiences with counterespionage almost certainly shaped his perspective as one of our Constitutional framers. Along with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, he was a co-author of The Federalist Papers, a collection of eighty-five published essays intended to boost public support for the new Constitution.
In Federalist No. 64, Jay notably argued for the necessity of secrecy in the exercise of certain Executive Branch powers. The whole of the essay was a discussion of treaties, the Executive Branch power to negotiate them, and the role of the Senate in advising and consenting. In the late 18th century, no responsibility of the new government had greater sensitivity than its liaisons with overseas powers. Jay, experienced in matters of both espionage and diplomacy, emphasized the role of discretion in foreign affairs, and wrote of a public interest best served by withholding certain information from an elected Congress. As Jay asserted in the essay—