In the formation of the first Republican cabinet Mr. Gallatin was obviously Mr. Jefferson's first choice for the Treasury. The appointment was nevertheless attended with some difficulties of a political and party nature. The paramount importance of the department was a legacy of Hamilton's genius. Its possession was the Federalist stronghold, and the Senate, which held the confirming power, was still controlled by a Federalist majority. To them Mr. Gallatin was more obnoxious than any other of the Republican leaders. In the few days that he held a seat in the Senate (1793) he offended Hamilton, and aroused the hostility of the friends of the secretary by a call for information as to the condition of the Treasury. As member of Congress in 1796 he questioned Hamilton's policy, and during Adams's entire administration was a perpetual thorn in the sides of Hamilton's successors in the department. The day after his election, February 18, 1801, Mr. Jefferson communicated to Mr. Gallatin the names of the gentlemen he had already determined upon for his cabinet, and tendered him the Treasury. The only alternative was Madison; but he, with all his reputation as a statesman and party leader, was without skill as a financier, and in the debate on the Funding Bill in 1790 had shown his ignorance in the impracticability of his plans. If Jefferson ever entertained the thought of nominating Madison to the Treasury, political necessity absolutely forbade it. That necessity Mr. Gallatin, by his persistent assaults on the financial policy of the Federalists, had himself created, and he alone of the Republican leaders was competent to carry out the reforms in the administration of the government, and to contrive the consequent reduction in revenue and taxation, which were cardinal points of Republican policy. Public opinion had assigned Gallatin to the post, and the newspapers announced his nomination before Mr. Jefferson was elected, and before he had given any indication of his purpose. To his wife Mr. Gallatin expressed some doubt whether his abilities were equal to the office, and whether the Senate would confirm him, and said, certainly with sincerity, 'that he would not be sorry nor hurt in his feelings if his nomination should be rejected, for exclusively of the immense responsibility, labor, etc., attached to the intended office, another plan which would be much more agreeable to him and to her had been suggested, not by his political friends, but by his New York friends.' He was by no means comfortable in his finances, and he had already formed a plan of studying law and removing to New York. He had made up his mind to leave the western country, which would necessarily end his congressional career. His wife was forlorn in his absence, and suffered so many hardships in her isolated residence that he felt no reluctance to the change. To one of his wife's family he wrote at this time:--