Reflecting intense political acrimony at the highest levels of government, the following quote was printed the other day in a New York newspaper:

"The President is fortunate to get off as the bubble is bursting, leaving others to hold the bag. His departure will mark the moment when the difficulties begin, (but) you will see that they will be ascribed to the new administration."

So who said it?

Was it, (A) Al Gore, (B) Hillary Clinton, (C) Michael Moore, or (D) Thomas Jefferson.

Give yourself a red, white and blue star on this Fourth of July week if you said "D," and add a bonus star if you knew that the "President" Thomas Jefferson was criticizing was none other than George Washington — and Jefferson was his secretary of state.

I came across Jefferson's quote, printed in a New York newspaper called the Aurora in 1797, in "His Excellency," Joseph J. Ellis' critically acclaimed George Washington biography that is one of a spate of recent publications dealing with the Founding Fathers.

Through the long lens of history, these books analyze the personalities and conditions that fomented revolution more than 200 years ago and present surprising details about the revolutionaries.

Here's another Fourth of July quiz question:

Other than playing critically important roles in creating the United States of America, what did George Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, George Mason, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Thomas Paine have in common?

Answer: They didn't much like each other.

The patriots fought like Red Sox and Yankees. They disagreed more than divorce lawyers. No one was safe from ridicule and scorn.

Thomas Paine, whose "Common Sense" pamphlet kick-started the revolutionary war won by Washington's army, disliked Washington so much he "openly prayed for his imminent death."

In Washington's presidential administration, he put the "Big Three" in his Cabinet — Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton — and by the time his eight years were up he was estranged from Madison and Jefferson, and Hamilton was trying to use Washington to fuel his own power trip.

As Jefferson and Madison helped form the Democratic-Republican Party and Hamilton the Federalist Party, Washington could only shake his head at the emerging partisan two-party system he was sure would "make character irrelevant."

Of Jefferson, Washington's view was that he was "one of the most artful, intriguing, industrious and double-faced politicians in America."

Jefferson saw Washington as a "listless" president with "a willingness to let others act, or even think, for him."

Who could have known that after both were long gone their monuments would face each other along the national mall in the city bearing Washington's name?

Or that the country they fought for, and then fought over, would spend the next 230 years complaining about every presidential administration, bar none, while bickering itself into the freest and most powerful nation on the face of the Earth?

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.