The French element was an almost negligible quantity, yet it exerted an influence far beyond what might be expected when its numbers are considered. So strong was the tide of public opinion in favor of all things French, occasioned by the events of the French Revolution, that Albert Gallatin, a French-Swiss, who had just been naturalized, and still spoke English with a decided foreign accent, attained high political honors. To the people he was essentially a Frenchman, and in 1794, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, from Fayette County where he lived. At the same time he was elected to Congress from the district consisting of Allegheny and Washington Counties; and was twice re-elected from the same district, which included Greene County after the separation from Washington County in 1796, and its erection into a separate county. It was while serving this constituency that Gallatin developed those powers in finance and statesmanship which caused his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury by President Jefferson, and by Jefferson’s successor, President Madison. From the politicians of this Congressional District, Gallatin learned those lessons in diplomacy which enabled him, while joint commissioner of the United States, to secure the signature of England to the Treaty of Ghent, by which the War of 1812 was brought to a close, and which led to his becoming United States Minister to France and to England. The training of those early days finally made him the most famous of all Americans of European birth, and brought about his nomination for Vice-President by the Congressional caucus of the Republican party, an honor which he first accepted, but later declined.[64] Another prominent Frenchman was John B. C. Lucus. In 1796, he lived on a farm on Coal Hill on the south side of the Monongahela River, in St. Clair Township, five miles above Pittsburgh. It was said of him that he was an atheist and that his wife plowed on Sundays, in spite of which he was several times elected to the General Assembly.[65] In 1800, he was appointed an associate judge for the county. He quarrelled with Alexander Addison, the president judge of the judicial district to which Allegheny County was attached, yet he had sufficient standing in the State to cause Judge Addison’s impeachment and removal from the Bench. In 1802, Lucus was elected to Congress and was re-elected in 1804. In 1805, he was appointed United States District Judge for the new Territory of Louisiana, now the State of Missouri.