To Jefferson, this story held the key to Hamilton's politics. When dinner was over and the cloth was removed (as they put it in the 18th century), the conversation strayed into the subject of the British constitution.Īs Jefferson recalled it, “Adams said, 'urge that constitution of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representation, and it would be the most perfect constitution ever devised by the wit of man.” At this point, “Hamilton paused,” Jefferson wrote dramatically, “and said, 'urge it of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representation, and it would become an impracticable government: as it stands at present, with all its supposed defects, it is the most perfect government which ever existed.” Luckily for historians (though, not so luckily for Hamilton), Jefferson often recorded such moments for potential future use.įor example, as Jefferson recounted in a note to a friend, one evening in 1791, Secretary of State Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Vice President John Adams were dining together at Jefferson's home. Matters weren't helped by Hamilton's habit of speaking frankly-usually, too frankly-about his political views. And on the opposite side, Hamilton, as he noted in a letter to Washington, couldn't bear the fact that whenever something didn't go Hamilton's way, he could see Jefferson across the table smirking at him. Jefferson's notes contain complaints about yet another of what Jefferson called Hamilton's forty-five minute jury speeches. Their own notes and letters offer an insider's view of what it might have been like to have the two of them together in a cabinet meeting. And Jefferson saw Hamilton as a wildly ambitious attack dog who would hammer his way into getting what he wanted. Hamilton thus saw Jefferson as sneaky and hypocritical, someone with wild ambition who was very good at masking it. Jefferson was many things that Hamilton was not: indirect, somewhat retiring, apt to work behind the scenes. Hamilton was many things that Jefferson was not: aggressive, confrontational, openly ambitious. Things were not made any easier by their obvious differences in personality, which became more apparent over time as their conflicting world views and policy choices came to the fore. Hamilton became Secretary of the Treasury, convinced that he was a sort of Prime Minister he often referred to "my administration." And Jefferson, as he boasted to Madison, believed that he was being put in charge of all of the domestic affairs of the nation. Obviously, this led each man to view the other as an intrusive busy-body consistently reaching beyond the bounds of his office. In essence, he led each man to assume that his position was the most important position in the cabinet. Eager to convince Jefferson and Hamilton to accept their offices, Washington was a bit too expansive in his descriptions of both jobs. This is one area in which George Washington created some of his own trouble. It wasn't until Hamilton's economic policy began to take shape in late 17 that each man took a closer look at the other and began to wonder about what he saw. At first, they got along: Hamilton occasionally asked for Jefferson's opinions, and Jefferson nominated Hamilton for membership in the American Philosophical Society. Of course, when he selected Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton for his cabinet, he didn't know that they would become enemies. He solicited each person’s opinion, opposed as they might be, considered his options, and made a decision. President Washington could also be very skilled in dealing with his cabinet, managing them in almost the same way that he had consulted with his staff of generals during the Revolution. They could even be useful, until he came to realize (in 1792), the very personal nature of the differences between two of his cabinet members: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Freeman, Professor of History Yale Universityĭifferences of opinion didn't concern President Washington.
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