After being elected into office in 1789, one of George Washington's priorities as President of the United States was to select a cabinet. Washington waited to make his selections as Congress created the departments of Treasury, War, and State. His choices were based on talent and experience, not on party association. Two of the men had Washington selected, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson brought contrasting beliefs to the administration. At a young age of 34, Alexander Hamilton was selected as the Secretary of the Treasury. He was appointed due to being a known genius, and an expert in economics. For the Secretary of State, Washington chose Thomas Jefferson. Along with being the father of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson had been the minister to France for the past four years. Jefferson stood alone on knowing the details of maintaining connections with foreign nations (Roark, p.316). With both men's contrasting ideas, the debates between them on political theory, and U.S. policies brought about the basis for party politics in the U.S. Their views on political theory, the establishment of a National Bank, and foreign policy conflicted because how each man believed where political power laid. .
With his ideas of a strong federal government, Alexander's Hamilton political theories were rooted in a need for a powerful central power. Hamilton had a negative outlook on the nature of man. He stressed that at man's motivation was only self-interest. One of Hamilton's stronger beliefs was that men were not equal in talent or roles in society. Due to the belief of inequality, he found that a strong central government, controlled by the few with talent and power, was needed to control the mass of people with little talent and power. "All communities divide into the few and the many. The first are rich and well born, the other the mass of the people. The people are turbulent and unchanging; they seldom judge or determine right.