Yesterday, I finished reading "Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation" by John Ferling. If nothing else, the book demonstrates how the intense partisan battles we see today can be traced all the way back to the late 1700s, when the first political parties were formed. The Federalist Party, which pushed for a strong central government, assumption of war debts, and a national bank, was headed by the first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson, who served as George Washington's first secretary of state (and went on to become the third U.S. president), started the Democratic-Republican Party, which favored states' rights and limited government. Jefferson and Hamilton clashed inexorably, from the moment they joined Washington's cabinet through the Elections of 1796 and 1800, the latter of which Jefferson won by a whisker. Most historians agree that Jefferson and Hamilton, for all their differences, rema...

On this day in 1800, President John Adams (1735-1826) ordered the federal government to pack up, leave Philadelphia, and set up shop in the nation’s new capital -- Washington, D.C. After Congress adjourned its last meeting in Philadelphia on May 15, Adams told his cabinet to make sure Congress and all federal offices were up and running in their new headquarters by June 15, 1800. Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital from 1790 until June 10, 1800. Official archives and documents were transferred from Philadelphia to the new capital via ship over inland waterways. President and Mrs. Adams did not move in to the president’s mansion, which sat unfinished, until November of that year. Settling in to the White House was no walk in the park for the new first lady. In December, Abigail Adams wrote to a friend that she had to line-dry their clothes in what eventually was dubbed the East Room. John Adams was the first president to live in the White House. It was President Theodore...