President Washington rewarded Randolph for his support. Randolph was appointed as the first U.S. Attorney General in September 1789 and maintained the precarious neutrality in the feud between Thomas Jefferson (of whom Randolph was a second cousin) and Alexander Hamilton. In Washington's cabinet, as in the ratification dispute of 1787–1788, Randolph tried to bring people together, rather than jump to hasty conclusions and ignore the potential costs in pursuit of self-righteous ideological purity. He continued to make important contributions to the structure of the new nation and to its relationship with the states.