The Broadway play, Hamilton, was a hit that received incredible acclaim. I personally loved it. I listened to the soundtrack for months even though I never saw the play, and two characters in the play are absolute showstoppers: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
The play follows the life of Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, especially as it related to his rivalry with Aaron Burr. Most famously, their rivalry culminated in an 1804 duel where Burr killed Hamilton in a duel — all while Aaron Burr was the vice president of the United States.
Based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, the play’s catchy soundtrack and diverse cast make it one of the most successful Broadway shows of the century.
The play Hamilton culminates with, well, the death of Alexander Hamilton. But Burr lived on, and he lived on for 32 more years.
Killing Hamilton was not the last of Burr’s scandals. At one point, he was accused of treason but never convicted.
For those people who don’t know, Aaron Burr has earned a reputation of being the Donald Trump of his time, but this legacy is contested today.
Nancy Isenberg, the author of Fallen Founder (a biography about Burr), says Burr’s legacy is misunderstood since he was a very charismatic politician and one of the best lawyers of his time.
This is the story of Aaron Burr’s complicated legacy, and the time he was accused of treason.
Who was Aaron Burr?
According to Biography, Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1756. His whole family had been active in politics for a long time, and he also came from a family of privilege.
His father, Aaron Burr Sr., was the president of the College of New Jersey, which is now known as Princeton University. His father was also a Presbyterian minister during the Great Awakening, a time of surging religious fervor in America that advocated Calvinist beliefs and a personal, emotional relationship with Christ.
However, tragedy soon beset Aaron Burr and his family when his parents died. Britannica notes his father died when he was one year old, and his mother died when he was two. His next guardian, his grandfather, the Christian revivalist Jonathan Edwards, also died that year.
Burr and his sister became orphans at a very young age. But Burr led a life of ambition, as popularly noted. One of their uncles raised them and provided them with tutors.
Burr first applied to the College of New Jersey at 11 years old. He then applied when he was 13, and got accepted. At 16, Burr graduated from the College of New Jersey, studying law and theology.
The American Revolution
During the American Revolution, Burr enlisted as a soldier in 1775 after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. He served under General Benedict Arnold, a notorious general who would later betray American forces. Battlefields says Burr helped Benedict Arnold invade Canada.
During the march to Quebec, Burr became a hero after reports that he tried to save General Richard Montgomery, and that Montgomery even died in his arms. The march itself was an absolute disaster, but Bur’s legacy became cemented due to his heroic acts.
Burr then started working for Generals George Washington and Israel Putnam, playing an instrumental role in helping Americans evacuate from defeat in New York. He guided almost 5,000 men and crucial weapons out of the city.
Washington promoted Burr to lieutenant colonel. He would lead a force of about 300 men, but in 1779, due to ailing health, Burr resigned.
After the United States gained its independence, Burr became admitted to the New York state bar. He would go on to have a robust career in law and politics, and Burr married widow Theodosia Bartow Prevost, with whom he had a daughter.
Among his many accomplishments include becoming New York Attorney General in 1789, being elected senator of New York in 1791 (defeating Hamilton’s father-in-law, which is credited with starting tensions between the two), and becoming vice president in 1800 to Thomas Jefferson.
Isenberg notes Burr’s relationship with Jefferson became strained due to the deadlock in the House of Representatives when Burr and Jefferson received the same number of votes for president, but Burr did not step down. Jefferson favored Madison as the next president over Burr, and did not include Burr in his cabinet. Jefferson replaced Burr in his 1804 campaign — George Clinton would be Jefferson’s running mate instead.
Burr had to look elsewhere to further his political career. In 1804, Burr ran for governor of New York but lost.
Killing Hamilton
Burr blamed Hamilton for not becoming president in 1800, and not becoming New York governor in 1804. He wasn’t wrong — according to PBS, Hamilton openly disdained Burr and campaigned against both Burr’s grand political ambitions. In February of 1804, Hamilton made a public, “despicable opinion” against Burr at a dinner party, which was later published in a New York newspaper.
This was the tipping point for their conflict, and Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton, due to the politics of the time, had no choice but to accept.
We all know how that ended — at Weehawken, New Jersey, Burr killed Hamilton. No one knows who fired the first shot, but Hamilton put on his spectacles, which makes Nancy Isenberg believe Hamilton intended to shoot Burr.
Whether Burr intended to or not is unknown — killing Hamilton signaled the death of Burr’s political career and made him a pariah in American politics, an outcome that could not have been in his best interest.
Burr originally didn’t show any remorse. There was a warrant for his arrest in two states: New York and New Jersey. In both states, there was a warrant for his arrest for manslaughter and murder.
He escaped accountability for killing Hamilton by avoiding the states of New York and New Jersey while he was a fugitive. At the time, he was still the vice president, and he served out his term. Eventually, all the charges were dropped.
But he later regretted killing Hamilton.
The treason plot
For the next three years, Aaron Burr turned his attention elsewhere. In particular, he turned it westward. After all, historian Richard Cavendish says most people considered Burr a murderer and a ruined man, so there was no future for his career for him on the east coast.
Cavendish says Burr went to the new Louisiana Territory and harbored thoughts of invading Mexico. Mexico, at the time, was still a Spanish colony, and Burr’s intentions are contested by historians. Burr apologists believe Burr wanted to expand the country. Burr critics believe he wanted to start his own country.
Regardless, Burr did entertain the idea of invading Spanish land. He met with Anthony Merry, the British Minister to the U.S., to see if the British had an interest in taking the Louisiana Territory and detaching it from the Union. He requested a British fleet and half a million dollars, in exchange for giving Louisiana to Great Britain.
Great Britain, however, was not interested. Merry provided Burr with $1500 and was recalled to Great Britain in 1806.
In 1805, Burr journeyed to New Orleans. There, he made acquaintance with a young Andrew Jackson, who was famous for dueling and killing another plantation owner in 1806. Historian James Ranck says Burr was a welcome leader to many in the West — he killed a Federalist (Hamilton), who was typically a political enemy to those on the frontier.
Burr started raising a lot of followers and volunteers. One of these followers was General James Wilkinson, the Governor of the Louisiana Territory. Wilkinson, however, betrayed Burr, telling Jefferson of “a deep, dark, wicked and widespread conspiracy.” Burr later told a Spanish diplomat he planned to captain Washington D.C. — the diplomat gave him a couple of thousand dollars to get his plans started.
In 1806, Burr led a group of 60 followers down the Mississippi River. Wilkinson promised to supply soldiers to Burr, but decided against it when he believed Burr would fail and turned against him.
Wilkinson sent a letter to Jefferson that would be used as evidence against Burr, detailing Burr’s plots. He claimed it was a letter from Burr to Wilkinson.
In reality, this was a letter Wilkinson fabricated, lying that Burr had written it to him.
Burr would be arrested and sent to Richmond, Virginia. He was accused of treason for “trying to seize New Orleans and convert American territory into an empire of his own,” in Cavendish’s words. If he was found guilty of treason, Burr would be sentenced to death.
His lawyers at the time included an all-star cast, akin to the O.J. Simpson legal team. Burr had Edmund Ralph, Secretary of State to George Washington, and a young Henry Clay as attorneys.
Their argument was that Burr’s intention to commit conspiracy did not constitute actual treason and an overt act of war. He was accused of treason for “levying war.” Chief Justice John Marshall, who did not get along with Thomas Jefferson, agreed — Burr was acquitted of treason.
But now his political career was actually over, even on the frontier. He would move to Europe, return to the United States in 1812, return to his law practice. In 1813, his daughter would go missing. Burr would die on Staten Island in 1836.
Takeaways
Without a doubt, Aaron Burr made a lot of enemies during his political career. Alexander Hamilton was his most notorious rival, but Burr was also a rival to Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. He is a villain in American history, but maybe much of the popular history surrounding Burr is fiction or at least lazy history from popular historians.
He is “was far more sincere, and far more enlightened than he has been given credit for,” Isenberg says.
She later goes on to say he was never found guilty of treason and not convicted because there was no evidence or credible piece of testimony. Wilkinson also lied about the letter that “implicated” Burr.
To Isenberg, Burr is a convenient villain.
However, the reality is he was not convicted and was acquitted of treason. No one knows what would have happened had Wilkinson not turned against Burr and had he not been captured.
Needless to say, 1804–1807 were years that did not go well for Burr. Those were the years Burr’s political ambitions were ruined. No matter how convincing Burr apologists, like Isenberg, are, the cultural influence of Broadway shows like Hamilton is much greater in magnitude.
Most Americans will continue to see Aaron Burr as a villain.
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This post was previously published on Frame of Reference.
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