Note 27 — Chapter VI · POPULAR CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT
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Washington was not a party man and cared very little about the political views of men whom he appointed to public office. His immediate successors, Adams and Jefferson, did not preserve this strict impartiality; on the other hand, they were disinclined to treat public office as a mere means of rewarding their own supporters. They did not remove office-holders in order to make room for their own political friends.