Albert Gallatin

#1436 Appointments and Disappointments

#1436 Appointments and Disappointments

We speak with President Thomas Jefferson this week about his cabinet, particularly about his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin. President Jefferson, as portrayed by humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson, gives credit to Mr. Gallatin for retiring the national debt during his administration, for running the federal government while Jefferson and Madison were away, and for keeping government spending in check.

In the What Would Jefferson Do segment, Jefferson recommends reading: Thomas Paine, Common Sense; Tacitus, The Histories; Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws; The letters and orations of Cicero; John Locke, Second Treatise on Government; and The Federalist Papers.