Founding Fathers of the United States: What was the extent of George Washington's connection to the Federalist Party?

Washington's top two cabinet members were Hamilton (Treasury) and Jefferson (State).  His vice president was John Adams, elected in the manner prior to the 12th amendment when there need be no real connection ideologically between the two (president and veep), and with a vague idea that the vice president would function something like a prime minister.  He was named president of the senate, but given no role apart from counting votes and breaking ties, etc.  So Adams basically sat there watching the senate, no one listened to him, and then he went home at the end of the day to write letters to his wife bitching about how much his job sucked and that she was a thousand times smarter than the morons he heard rambling all day.   Jefferson saw his own role rather expansively, though.  So did Hamilton.  Jefferson saw himself being something like what the vice president is today, while Hamilton saw himself being in the role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain, which is a broad and energetic part of the cabinet. It’s worth noting here that Washington had no choice in Adams’ role, but he selected Jefferson and Hamilton. Jefferson he knew as part of his Virginia Delegation in the Continental Congress prior to his assuming the role of general of the Continental Army, while once he came to lead the army, Hamilton was his aide-de-camp.  Jefferson was widely known and respected, both for having authored the Declaration as well as for being Governor of Virginia and later ambassador to France around the time of the Constitutional Convention.  Hamilton was at the Constitutional Convention, over which Washington presided as president of the Convention itself.   When it came time to choose a Treasury Secretary, Washington thought to choose Robert Morris, the “Financier of the Revolution,” and the man that officially nominated Washington to head the Convention.  Morris declined, directing Washington to Hamilton, a much younger man, but one who had greatly impressed Morris with letters he’d written about finances at the time when Hamilton was serving Washington in the Revolution and acutely aware of the concerns of financial constraints for the nation.   Now Jefferson and Hamilton were probably the best cases of ideological rivals in the entire early republic.  Jefferson even had a bust of Hamilton in the entry hall at Monticello standing opposed to his own bust, somewhat naming the man to be his most worthy adversary.   Hamilton epitomized the Federalists while Jefferson epitomized the Republicans (now called the Democratic-Republicans, but that phrase was never used in those days, and the “democratic” aspect didn’t really manifest until Jackson).   In looking for opinions on important matters, Washington solicited opinions from both Jefferson and Hamilton.  Then he made his decisions.  He seemed to generally favor Hamilton, and Hamilton seemed to get most everything he wanted.  Jefferson—being a bit of an introvert to begin with, while Hamilton was a rather gregarious extrovert—became increasingly withdrawn.  The more he withdrew, the stronger a role was left for Hamilton, and the more the first presidency was directed according to the dictates of Hamilton, the Federalist.  Jefferson eventually came to oppose Washington, saw him as a dupe, began working against him from within the cabinet itself directing Madison (a major player in Congress at the time) to oppose Washington, and even to some extent slandered the president.  They had a rather unfriendly break.   Washington, however, regretted that break.  He was not a man of great scholarship and intelligence (Burr absolutely hated him, and thought he was an outright idiot), but he was a wise man capable of well-reasoned decisions.  While he delegated idea-generation and policy suggestions to his cabinet members, he did make final decisions after having listened to both sides.  But given the two most significant issues of the day—Hamilton’s scheme of assumption and the National Bank, and John Jay’s treaty with the UK for trade—on balance, the designation would be he was a non-partisan president that enacted a largely Federalist agenda.  The policy breaks were far more pronounced when Jefferson succeeded Adams (a Federalist, when in the presidency) than when Adams succeeded Washington.

Well reasoned and acute answer. Washington also possessed the prestige, that neither Hamilton nor Jefferson possessed, to allow him the space in which to make decisions that would be supported by the country at large. I have always thought that the split of the 1850s and disastrous 1860s was foreshadowed in the Hamilton/Jefferson split. For myself, and I believe in the judgement of history, the Jeffersonian ideals proved ill suited for the long term development of the Republic, while Hamilton's set a pattern followed to this day.