John Jay to Abraham Yates Jr., 16 May 1777
16 May 1777 1
D r Sir
From the Intimations Information you was pleased to give me before you left this place, of a Design that it was intended ^ in your Count ^ ^ I w d be proposed in the County of Albany ^ to hold me up as a Candidate for the Office of Gov r ., I think it necessary to be ^ very ^ explicit on that Subject being persuaded that Unanimity in all our measures is to be ought to be the ardent Wish of every Member of this State, & it would be happy if ^ as ^ the Suffrages of the People for that important office could
The [ Grand ?] [ illegible ] of the Publick That the Office of first Magistrate of this State [ illegible ] [ considerable ?] ^ will ^ [ illegible ] be more respectable as well as more lucrative ^ & consequently more desirable ^ than the Place I now fill, [ illegible ] ^ is very ^ apparent to But Sir! my Object in the Course of the present Great Contest neither has been nor will be, either Rank or Money. I am persuaded that I can be more useful to the State in a judicial ^ the place office ^ I now hold, than in the one alluded to–& therefore [ I shall ] think it my Duty to continue in it. You are well [ illegible ] ^ are acquainted with ^ [ illegible ] the Reasons which enduce me to be of this opinion–[ illegible ] and altho I shall [ illegible ] entertain a high Sense of the Honor which my Friends may be ^ are ^ disposed to confer upon me, I must request the Favor of yourselves ^ them ^ not to encourage my being named as a Candidate for that Office, but to endeavour to unite the Votes of the Electors in that County of Albany in favor of some other Gent n . 2 I am Dear Sir Your most Ob t . & hble Serv t .
J. J.