The office of attorney general was filled by Mr. Edmund Randolph. To a
distinguished reputation in the line of his profession, this gentleman
added a considerable degree of political eminence. After having been
for several years the attorney general of Virginia, he had been
elected its governor. While in this office, he was chosen a member of
the convention which framed the constitution, and was also elected to
that which was called by the state for its adoption or rejection.
After having served at the head of the executive the term permitted by
the constitution of the state, he entered into its legislature, where
he preserved a great share of influence.

Such was the first cabinet council of the President. In its
composition, public opinion as well as intrinsic worth had been
consulted, and a high degree of character had been combined with real
talent.

In the selection of persons for high judicial offices, the President
was guided by the same principles. At the head of this department he
placed Mr. John Jay.

From the commencement of the revolution, this gentleman had filled a
large space in the public mind. Remaining, without intermission, in
the service of his country, he had passed through a succession of high
offices, and, in all of them, had merited the approbation of his
fellow citizens. To his pen, while in congress, America was indebted
for some of those masterly addresses which reflected most honour upon
the government; and to his firmness and penetration, was to be
ascribed, in no inconsiderable degree, the happy issue of those
intricate negotiations, which were conducted, towards the close of the
war, at Madrid, and at Paris. On returning to the United States, he
had been appointed secretary of foreign affairs, in which station he
had conducted himself with his accustomed ability. A sound judgment
improved by extensive reading and great knowledge of public affairs,
unyielding firmness, and inflexible integrity, were qualities of which
Mr. Jay had given frequent and signal proofs. Although for some years
withdrawn from that profession to which he was bred, the acquisitions
of his early life had not been lost; and the subjects on which his
mind had been exercised, were not entirely foreign from those which
would, in the first instance, employ the courts in which he was to
preside.

John Rutledge of South Carolina, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, William
Cushing of Massachusetts, Robert Harrison of Mary