At the beginning of Madison's presidency, he had wanted to nominate Albert Gallatin as Secretary of State, but a group of senators known as the "Invisibles" succeeded in blocking his nomination. The "Invisibles" were a faction of Republican senators led by Samuel Smith of Maryland. This group of Republicans were from the town of Baltimore, then known as "mobtown" because of it's large working-class Republican majority who often resorted to violence to silence their Federalist foes. They disliked James Madison very much, and absolutely hated Albert Gallatin. In place of Gallatin, Madison compromised and appointed Robert Smith as secretary of state with disastrous consequences. Gallatin instead, remained as the Secretary of the Treasury, and as the dissension grew it affected the rest of Madison's cabinet choices throughout his presidency. Gallatin himself opposed many appointments that Madison made including Daniel D. Tomkins and William h. Crawford to the war department. Gallatin seemed to have an ego problem as demonstrated when he expressed a desire to be secretary of war, even though he had no military training. As the his presidency progressed, Madison's patronage problems continued to worsen. Albert Gallatin continued to make more enemies, and there seemed to develop a fair amount of bigotry by men who attacked Gallatin's Swiss ancestry under the guise of patriotism. Nevertheless, Albert Gallatin remained as Secretary of the Treasurer until 1814 when he declined another term and was replaced by George W. Cambell. Afterwards, he served as Minister to France from 1816 to 1823, and minister to the United Kingdom until 1827.
In his 1815 State of the Union Address, Madison shared his thoughts on "public patronage". Today, when we here the word patronage, we think of cronyism, favoritism and kickbacks. But in 1815, the word patronage simply referred to the support or assistance from the government, or some funding to nudge a segment of the country in the right direction. It also meant the power to control appointments to office such as the Cabinet members who push these policies. In his annual address, President Madison wrote about the need to pay special attention to public patronage when there is a danger of foreign influence. With the war of 1812 over, there was a rising sense of nationalism, and America wanted to rid itself of any foreign dependencies. This was especially true in the areas of common defense and the "primary wants of individuals". So now, President James Madison was promoting nationalism, and even wanted to implement a system of encouragement and rewards for manufacturer's who draw from our own agriculture rather than rely on imports. And, in this new America perhaps there was just no place for a Swiss-born Secretary of Treasury.
"In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular manufactures where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of national prosperity and independence an encouragement which can not fail to be rewarded."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29457
James Madison and the Patronage Problem 1809-1817, Thesis by Robert Lee Asberry 1973, pg. 148-149 (Conclusion)
The American Congress: The Building of Democracy by Juian Zelizer 2004, pg. 96
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gallatin
http://www.americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Oil_3935301.jpg
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