Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

==Secretary of State==
{{See also|First Party System}}
[[File:T Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale 1791 2.jpg|thumb|alt=Thomas Jefferson|A 48-year-old Jefferson in 1791, in a portrait by [[Charles Willson Peale]]]]

Soon after returning from France, Jefferson accepted President Washington's invitation to serve as [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]].<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 334.</ref> Pressing issues at the time, the national debt and where the new national capital should be placed following its planned relocation from [[Philadelphia]] in 1800, placed him at odds with [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] [[Alexander Hamilton]], who favored a capital close to major commercial centers in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], while Washington, Jefferson, and other agrarians wanted it further south.<ref name="Cooke, 1970, pp. 523–45">[[#Cooke|Cooke, 1970]], pp. 523–545.</ref> After lengthy deadlock, the [[Compromise of 1790]] was struck, permanently locating the capital on the [[Potomac River]], and the federal government assumed the war debts of all original [[Thirteen Colonies|13 states]].<ref name="Cooke, 1970, pp. 523–45"/>

Jefferson opposed a national debt, preferring that each state retire its own, which contrasted with Hamilton's vision of the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] consolidating state debts<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, pp. 364–369.</ref> and establishing national credit and a national bank. Jefferson strenuously opposed both polices and attempted to undermine Hamilton's agenda, which nearly led Washington to dismiss him from the [[Cabinet of the United States|cabinet]]. He later left the cabinet voluntarily.<ref>[[#Chernow04|Chernow, 2004]], p. 427.</ref>

Jefferson's goals were to decrease American dependence on British commerce and to expand commercial trade with France. He sought to weaken [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonialism]] of the [[Trans-Appalachia]] and British control in the North, believing this would aid in the pacification of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>[[#Petterson2002|Peterson (2002), pp.40–41]]</ref>

Along with political protegé [[James Madison]], then a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]], and author [[Philip Freneau]], Jefferson co-founded the ''[[National Gazette]]'' in Philadelphia in 1791, which sought to counter the policies of the [[Federalist Party]], which Hamilton was promoting through the ''[[Gazette of the United States]]'', an influential Federalist newspaper. The ''National Gazette'' criticized the policies promoted by Hamilton, often in anonymous essays signed by the pen name ''Brutus'' at Jefferson's urging and written by Madison.<ref>[[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], p. 96.</ref> In Spring 1791, Jefferson was suffering from [[migraine]]s and tiring of the in-fighting with Hamilton, and he and Madison departed for a vacation in [[Vermont]].<ref name=Randall_1996_p1>[[#Randall 1996|Randall (1996)]], p. 1.</ref>

In May 1792, Jefferson's concern about emerging political rivalries in the young nation was escalating, and he wrote Washington, imploring him to run for reelection for a second term [[1792 United States presidential election|that year]] as a unifying influence.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 429.</ref> He urged the president to rally the citizenry to a party that would defend democracy against the corrupting influence of banks and financial-focused interests, which the Federalists were embracing and espousing. Historians recognize Jefferson's letter to Washington as one of the first delineations of [[Democratic-Republican Party]] principles.<ref>[[#Greider2010|Greider, 2010]], p. 246.</ref> Jefferson, Madison, and other Democratic-Republican organizers favored [[states' rights]] and local control and opposed the federal concentration of power. Hamilton, conversely, sought more power vested in the federal government.<ref>[[#Wood2010|Wood, 2010]], pp. 145–149.</ref>

Jefferson supported France against Britain when the two nations fought in 1793, though his arguments in Washington's Cabinet were undercut by French Revolutionary envoy [[Edmond-Charles Genêt]]'s open scorn for Washington.<ref>[[#Wood2010|Wood, 2010]], pp. 186–188.</ref> In discussions with British Minister [[George Hammond (diplomat)|George Hammond]], Jefferson tried in vain to persuade the British to vacate their posts in the Northwest and to compensate the U.S. for enslaved people freed by the British at the end of the Revolutionary War. Jefferson also sought to return to private life, and resigned from the cabinet in December 1793; he may also have wanted to bolster his political influence from outside the administration.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 523; [[#Ellis96|Ellis, 1996]], p. 119; [[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 283–284.</ref>

After the [[Presidency of George Washington|Washington administration]] negotiated the [[Jay Treaty]] with Britain in 1794, Jefferson saw a cause around which he could rally the Democratic-Republican Party. He organized national opposition to the treaty from Monticello.<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 293–294.</ref> The treaty, designed by Hamilton, aimed to reduce tensions and increase trade. Jefferson warned that it would increase British influence and subvert republicanism, calling it "the boldest act [Hamilton and Jay] ever ventured on to undermine the government".<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], ch.8 [e-book].</ref> The Treaty passed, but it expired in 1805 during Jefferson's presidential administration, and then President Jefferson did not renew it. Jefferson continued his pro-France stance; during the violence of the [[Reign of Terror]], he declined to disavow the revolution. "To back away from France would be to undermine the cause of republicanism in America", he wrote.<ref>[[#Yarbrough2006|Yarbrough, 2006]], p. xx.</ref>