Duty or Power?

There's a Thomas Jefferson quotation about service that interests me: "To glide unnoticed through a silent execution of duty, is the only avocation which becomes me, and it is the sincere desire of my heart." I think there are two things that motivate someone to hold public office: duty (the quotation) and power. I'm often reminded of these conflicting motivations as I read about the Founders-I think the Federalists thought they were motivated by the former, and the Republicans by the latter. At the Philadelphia Convention, when Hamilton's fellow New York delegates split (Robert Yates and John Lansing Jr), Washington wrote Hamilton, complaining about "narrow-minded politicians under the influence of local views" who would selfishly block "a strong and energetic government" under the guise of protecting the people. All of these Nationalists seemed to regard their actions and agendas as pure, pragmatic, and productive while their opponents got in the way to get votes, using a revolutionary rhetoric about the "spirit of '76". Think about all the political nonsense during the Revolutionary War that Washington had to deal with to get more supplies (the funds that this would require, seemingly violating revolutionary principles). I know John Adams would thought Jefferson was a party man (an ambitious man). He (correctly) predicted Jefferson's return to politics after his supposed retirement at the end of Washington's first term-that quotation about "political plants growing in the shade", citing ambition as an undeniable part of Jefferson's character. But then again, Jefferson wasn't the one who drove himself mad over his historical reputation in retirement. Then again, he didn't need to. Perhaps this difference of motivation is what separates a Statesman from a politician.