Albert Gallatin Quotes
I cannot consent to act the part of a mere financier, to become a contriver of taxes, a dealer of loans, a seeker of resources for the purposes of supporting useless baubles, of increasing the number of idle and dissipated members of the community, of fattening contractors, pursers, and agents, and of introducing … patronage, corruption, and rottenness which you so justly execrate.
Gallatin was complaining about requirements of Congress, with which he and Madison disagreed but were not powerful enough to stop.
Albert Gallatin, 1761-1849, U. S. Congressman & U. S. Senator (PA, Anti-Federalist), U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, Ambassador to Great Britain, Ambassador to France, Letter to President James Madison, November 8, 1809
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Johnson, after replacing Lincoln, started removing Lincoln appointees, particularly those who were aggressive reconstructionists and replacing them with others who generally were less aggressive in protecting Negro rights. “Going into the field” was the code word of the time for being in combat in the Civil War. He tried to label the civilian Lincoln appointees negatively, justifying their replacement. At the time there was no Civil Service system so even relatively minor officials were replaced. He was impeached by the house and retained his office by a single vote although the majority of the Senate voted to convict him.
At the time, Root was a Senator from New York and was trying to eliminate the large number of patronage jobs, most of which were not even real jobs—just payment. These developed the name of “No Show Jobs.”
It was very common to have tax collectors take a percentage of their collections as a commission and to be able to appoint sub tax collectors who also took commissions. On top of that, most tax collectors underreported the amount that they collected and pocketed the difference. At the time, Spain was worse than most Christian nations.
implicit in the weak ethics rules of the U.S. House of Representatives
Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin, born de Gallatin was an American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Biographer Nicholas Dungan states he was "America's Swiss Founding Father." He is known for being the founder of New York University and for serving in the Democratic-Republican Party at various federal elective and appointed positions across four decades. He represented Pennsylvania in the Senate and the House of Representatives before becoming the longest-tenured United States Secretary of the Treasury and serving as a high-ranking diplomat.
