Yet the greatest headache George Washington endures is the handpicked group of men he has chosen to advise him. This bickering “cabinet” of four politicians includes Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Jefferson and Hamilton, in particular, loathe each other. At issue is whether the federal government should be a strong central power, as Hamilton believes, or if the states should wield the most strength, as in Jefferson’s point of view. This debate will continue for generations to come.
