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Petition against the election of Mr.  Albert Gallatin

"Petition against the election of Mr. Albert Gallatin," December 2, 1793

National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate

In 1793 Pennsylvania elected a new senator, Albert Gallatin, a Democratic-Republican and fierce critic of Treasury Secretary Hamilton’s Federalist financial program. On the day the Swiss-born Gallatin was sworn into office, the Senate received this petition claiming Gallatin had not been a citizen for the constitutionally required nine years. He had lived in the United States for 14 years, but Federalists argued that he had taken only 1 oath of citizenship when state law required 2. The Senate divided between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans and unseated him.