Thomas Jefferson, although born of the old aristocratic stock of Virginia, had early announced himself a Democrat, and had led that faction throughout the Revolution.

His facile and fiery mind gave to the Declaration of Independence an irresistible appeal, and it still remains after nearly one hundred and fifty years one of the most contagious documents ever drawn up.

Going to France at the outbreak of the French Revolution, he found the French nation about to put into practice the principles on which he had long fed his imagination--principles which he accepted without qualification and without scruple.

Returning to America after the organization of the Government, he accepted with evident reluctance the position of Secretary of State which Washington offered to him.

In the Cabinet his chief adversary or competitor was Alexander Hamilton, his junior by fourteen years, a man equally versatile and equally facile--and still more enthralling as an orator.