Since Washington was a strong believer in the Constitution of the United States and had put forth much effort in getting it ratified, he tried conscientiously to set up a government satisfactory to all Americans. He wisely used his talent of recognizing individuals with a particular skill when he selected his first cabinet to advise him: Thomas Jefferson (Virginia), Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Hamilton (New York), Secretary of the Treasury, and Henry Knox (Massachusetts), Secretary of War. Edmund Randolph, a Virginian, was appointed Attorney-General, but this office did not become a cabinet post until 1814. The men holding these positions for the first time had a heavy responsibility in deciding specifically the range of duties each position should include and in properly carrying out these duties. The practice of "log-rolling," defined as the "joining together of politicians to mutually further each other's plans of activities," was followed at this early time of our new government. The question had arisen in Congress whether or not Congress should assume the state debts, most of which had been accumulated during the Revolutionary War. The Congressmen who favored such assumption believed that such action would not only tend to strengthen security and confidence of the American people in their new government but would also make it easier for the United States to borrow money, either at home or from a foreign country. Since Virginia and many of the Southern States had already assumed and had paid most of their debts, the Virginia legislature opposed this bill strongly in 1790 and believed that it placed an unjust hardship upon the State. This state legislative objection was the first official action of a state against a federal bill. Since the Northern States preferred a location in the north for the national capital, Hamilton and Jefferson encouraged their friends to vote for each other's proposals. Hamilton's friends in the north voted for locating the capital along the Potomac in return for Jefferson's friends in the south voting for the assumption of state debts by the national government. There had been discussion for a long time about changing the location of the national capital from New York City to a more central location along the Atlantic seaboard. When a site along the Potomac River was finally agreed upon, Maryland and Virginia agreed to cede part of its land for the establishment of a Federal District to become the seat of government of the United States. On December 3, 1789, Virginia ceded thirty and three-quarters square miles of land including the town of Alexandria and part of Fairfax County. The stone locating the original southern corner boundary, officially laid by Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, may still be seen near Jones Point, Alexandria.