But new men with new manners were coming on the scene, and among them the opposition to Hamilton had found a new leader-- William Branch Giles of Virginia.

He was a Princeton graduate of the class of 1781, had studied for the bar, and had been admitted to practice in 1786.

To the full legal equipment of the period he added an energy and an audacity that speedily brought him legal and political distinction.

He was active and outspoken in advocating the adoption of the new Constitution, at a time when popular sentiment in Virginia was strongly inclined to be adverse.

He had no hesitation about undertaking unpopular causes, and hence British debt cases became a marked feature of his practice.