"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.