Washington’s Cabinet
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The Attorney General of the US is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. Washington chose his fellow Virginia delegate, Edmund Randolph, as the first Attorney General. The current Attorney General is Eric Holder.Conflict within the CabinetHamilton and Jefferson were brilliant men. But their ideas clashed. They wanted to do the best for their country. They just disagreed on what was best. As Jefferson later remembered: "Hamilton and myself were daily pitted ... like two fighting cocks.” Those two fighters disagreed about power and who ought to have it. Jefferson saw a strong, centralized government as a possible enemy of individual liberty. He feared a kinglike president and thought that ordinary people could govern themselves if they were educated. Hamilton believed the federal government should be strong if it was to work for all the people, instead of just those with the loudest voices. He didn't have much faith in the people, as he himself explained: "Give all power to the many and they will oppress the few. Give all power to the few, they will oppress the many. Both therefore ought to have power, that each may defend itself against the other." 
Hamilton and Jefferson's differences gave rise to the first American political parties. Hamilton's followers formed the "Federalist Party." Jefferson's followers were the "Democratic-Republicans." George Washington didn't like the idea of parties at all. He called them "factions" and warned against them. But James Madison understood that people don't think alike. He said that parties would balance each other, so that no one group could become too strong. The tension and the compromises between the two traditions, liberals and conservatives, represented by Jefferson and Hamilton have helped make this country great. 
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