“During the Washington administration, a Secretary of State was forced to resign under suspicion of treason; other members of the cabinet carried on private dealings with foreign diplomats wich failed to disgrace them only because they remained unknown. A congressional leader was stabbed in a political argument. The year Washington retired from office, the Senate expelled a Senator for treason, and a Republican journalist accused Hamilton of scheming with James Reynolds, a small-time criminal, to speculate in Treasury certificates. Hamilton replied that the only reason he knew Reynolds was because Reynolds had been blackmailing him for having an affair with his wife. A duel between Hamilton and Senator James Monroe, who had leaked the tale, was only averted by Aaron Burr. A year after that, two congressmen fought on the floor of the House.”

–Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington