Not exactly:
"Jurors should acquit even against the judge's instruction....if exercising their judgment with discretion and honesty they have a clear conviction that the charge of the court is wrong." -- Alexander Hamilton, 1804
The jury is intended to be the rule of law - the final corrective process to a legal system that may go out of control.
Of course, the Founding Fathers never anticipated a jury selection system like ours has devolved into, either. I've always been of the opinion that jury pools should be made up strictly of volunteers over the age of 55 with demonstrable business or professional experience. The current system of seating unwilling draftees who often lack the ability to exercise judgment in their own lives gives predictably wretched results.