Aaron Burr was the third Vice President of the United States and a Revolutionary War hero. The 1800 presidential election between Burr and Thomas Jefferson led to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, killing him, and later attempted to establish dominance over Texas, leading to his arrest and trial for treason. He was eventually acquitted but left in debt and unable to restore his political or financial fortunes. He died in 1836.
Aaron Burr, one of the first American politicians from the state of New Jersey, was the third Vice President of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1805 under Thomas Jefferson. A Revolutionary War hero, Aaron Burr was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party and rose to political prominence in upstate New York, where he served as US Senator and Attorney General.
It was the 1800 presidential election between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson that gave impetus to the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Twelfth Amendment, which established separate collective ballots for president and vice president, was adopted to avoid the conflict situation that arose when the two presidential candidates finished tied with an equal number of electoral votes. At the time, the law required the candidate with the most votes to become president, while the opposing candidate filled the role of vice president. Since Burr and Jefferson were deadlocked with equal amounts of votes, a vote was held in the House of Representatives to break the tie.
Jefferson won the tie breaker when a number of Federalist representatives abstained from voting at the behest of Alexander Hamilton, the founder of the Federalist party. Hamilton, who disliked Burr, questioned Burr’s integrity, arguing that a man of his character was unfit to lead the country. The validity of Hamilton’s views on Burr is difficult to assess due to the absence of significant historical records that could shed light on this matter. However, it is known that many members of Congress at the time held Burr in high regard and admired his leadership qualities in the Senate.
Near the end of his term as vice president, Burr decided to run for governor in upstate New York. Despite a strong political base and the support of many Federalists, Burr was defeated. He attributed his defeat to dishonest tactics and propaganda perpetrated by his opponents, including Alexander Hamilton.
Following his defeat, Burr was enraged after reading a letter from Charles D. Cooper published in the Albany Register detailing disparaging comments made about him by Hamilton at a pre-election dinner. Shortly thereafter, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel in an attempt to rectify what he perceived as an affront to his honor. On July 11, 1804, the two men conducted their duel near the town of Weehawken, New Jersey. In the ensuing duel, one of the most famous in U.S. history, Hamilton’s shot missed, but Burr’s shot struck Hamilton in the abdomen causing a wound that proved fatal.
In the wake of the duel, with his political career in shambles, Aaron Burr headed west to chase his fortune. In anticipation of war with Spain over the part of Mexico now known as the state of Texas, Burr with the help of a wealthy Ohio landowner named Harman Blennerhassett, and General James Wilkinson, governor of the Louisiana Territory, they hoped to establish dominance over the area by force of arms once conflict broke out.
Burr was later betrayed by Wilkinson and went on the run when Jefferson found him a traitor and guilty of treason. Ironically, Burr turned himself in to authorities twice, only to be released by judges who ruled he hadn’t broken any laws.
Eventually Burr was arrested by the federal government and tried in 1807 in the Supreme Court. Famed Chief Justice John Marshall presided over the trial and, in a ruling that tested the force of the US Constitution, acquitted Burr for lack of credible witnesses or evidence. Marshall acquitted Burr despite all efforts by the Jeffersonian presidency to obtain a guilty verdict.
In the wake of his acquittal, saddled with debt, with his political aspirations shattered, Burr set out for Europe in an effort to escape his creditors. Never able to restore his financial or political fortunes, Aaron Burr eventually returned to America where he succumbed to a debilitating stroke in 1834 and died in 1836.
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