John Jay served as the second governor of New York and the first chief justice of the United States. He was one of the three contributors to the Federalist Papers.
Jay directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party after the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788.
In Essay #2, he states two facts about political life:
- A society needs some form of government, and
- The government must be granted sufficient power to regulate conflict and administer the laws.
He argues that such a government in a large and diverse country should be united. He also makes a strong argument that while a large number of citizens preferred that states should be separate and sovereign entities, the country should have a central government that unites them.