The Republican campaign against Hamilton and the bank reached a crescendo in January of 1793 when Congressman William Giles of Virginia called for an investigation of Hamilton’s management of public funds. Giles was a devoted Jefferson protégé – he was even courting Jefferson’s younger daughter at the time – and Jefferson himself actually drafted the indictment against Hamilton, a labor of love if there ever was one. The central charge was that Hamilton was cooking the books, shifting sums from one column to the other in order to conceal graft being dispensed to his financial cronies, the infamous “stockjobbers” and “monocrats.” The goal was to force Hamilton’s resignation.
But contrary to Jefferson’s fondest expectations, the congressional investigation ended up congratulating Hamilton on his impeccable bookkeeping and rock-ribbed integrity. Jefferson’s only solace was the knowledge that he had forced his chief tormentor to spend several weeks doing the tedious work to document his accounting procedures.
Source:
Ellis, Joseph J. “The Conspiracy.” American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. Vintage Books, 2008. 185. Print.
Original Source Listed:
JMP 2:760-64.
Eugene R. Sheridan, “Thomas Jefferson and the Giles Resolutions,” WMQ 49 (October 1992), 589-608.
Further Reading:
Didn't these investigations eventually pressure Hamilton to admit his affairs with Reynolds? Or is this unrelated.