When Adams entered office, the ongoing war between France and Great Britain was causing great difficulties for American merchants on the high seas and arousing intense partisanship among contending political factions nationwide. 'The Hamiltonians by whom he is surrounded,' wrote Jefferson in a May 1797 letter, 'are only a little less hostile to him than to me.' The other holdover from the Washington administration, Attorney General Charles Lee, worked well with Adams and remained in the cabinet for the duration of Adams's presidency. In 1798, Benjamin Stoddert of Maryland became the first Secretary of the Navy, and Stoddert emerged as one of Adams's most important advisers. As a split grew between Adams and the Hamiltonian wing of the Federalists during the second half of Adams's term, the president relied less on the advice of Pickering, McHenry, and Wolcott. Adams replied that, in any event, he would not have been able to select Madison because of pressure from within his cabinet to appoint a Federalist.
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