l86 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



satisfy the House in this regard. But with the session of 1795 a 

 definite policy was entered upon by the Republicans. They wished 

 to subordinate the power of the executive to that of the House 

 of Representatives*, and an important element in their plan was the 

 giving to the House of Representatives absolute control over financial 

 matters. In this part of the contest Gallatin took the lead f , and it 

 is in large measure due to his efforts that the power of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury was weakened, and the power of the House 

 increased. His first measure was the appointment of a committee to 

 oversee the operation of the Treasury department; a committee ;|; 

 which would be an efficient aid when the Secretary of the Treasury 

 and the House should be agreed as to policy, but which would be a 

 troublesome enemy if such agreement did not exist. The purpose of 

 Gallatin was to establish the expenses of the government upon a per- 

 manent footing, and to bring the accounts of the Treasury depart- 

 ment into such shape that they could be easily understood and wisely 

 controlled by the House of Representatives. In pursuance of this 

 policy a controversy arose in 1796 over the appropriations for the 

 service of the year, the Federalists claiming that the House had no 

 business to discuss the merits of the establislimcnts for which money 

 had been previously appropriated. Gallatin, on the other hand, 

 argued that the House had power "to apj)ropriate or not to appro- 

 priate for any object whatever, whether that object was authorized or 

 not§,"and although nothing was decided by this debate, the views 

 of Gallatin were finally accepted. In the second session of 1796, 

 Gallatin complained that the Secretary of the Treasury was of the 

 opinion that he had the right to take money from one appropriation 

 where there was a surplus and apply it to another where there was a 

 deficit. On this account he introduced a rider to an appropriation 

 bill resolving that '* the several sums shall be solely applied to the 

 objects for which they are respectively appropriated. || " This bill 

 passed and was regarded as greatly restricting the powers of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, but still the contest between the House 

 and the Secretary, on the subject of regular reports, was continued. 

 Finally, after a number of years, a law called supplementary to an act 

 entitled "An act to establish the Treasury department, **" was intro- 



*That the m-\in plan unlerlyinir this struggle wis to place more power in the hands of 

 theHou.se of Reprei-entatives. is seen in the controvers-y over Jny's treaty. Thus Madi- 

 son said the quesiiou was •■ whether the yeaeral p iwer nf making treaties supersedes the 

 powers of the House of Kepresentatlves. particularly specified in the constitution, so as to 

 give the executive all deliberative will, and leave the House oul.v an executive and a 

 ministerial legislative agency." J. A. btevens, Life of Gallatin, p. 114. 



+ Ibid. , pp. 109-i:i4. 



t Committee of Ways and Means. See Part C. of this paper. 



§ Stevens, Life of Gallatin, p. 112. 



a Ibid., p. lU. 



••Peters. Vol 11.. Chap. oS. p. 79. 



