Aaron Burr planned to capture New Orleans and create his own empire after resigning as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president in 1804. He sought support from the British foreign secretary and found it in General James Wilkinson. Burr gathered an army and support from locals and businessmen, but rumors of his plot reached him and he was tried for treason. He was acquitted but lost Wilkinson’s support and surrendered after seeing a decoded letter he had sent to Wilkinson published in a local newspaper. He was tried again for treason and acquitted.
Aaron Burr, though probably most famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, was also known for his plan to capture New Orleans and create his own empire. Aaron Burr had served four years as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, but resigned when Jefferson was re-elected in 1804. Shortly after leaving office, he was planning to take over New Orleans and other western states that were only loosely loyal to the States United after years of political upheaval in the region.
In August 1804, Aaron Burr contacted Anthony Merry, the British foreign secretary to the United States, seeking support for his plan to detach the western states. Burr received no support, but that didn’t deter him. Aaron Burr found powerful support in General James Wilkinson, the new governor of the Louisiana Territory. Since Wilkinson controlled the army in the region, Aaron Burr’s plan was to rendezvous with the general after he had gathered an army of locals along the Mississippi River.
Aaron Burr spent much of 1805 traveling up the Mississippi meeting sympathizers such as Harman Blennerhassett, an Irish eccentric who agreed to help by allowing Burr to use his estate as a staging post for his army. Daniel Clark, a wealthy New Orleans merchant, agreed to cover $50,000 United States Dollars (USD) to support a Mexican insurrection that was supposed to initiate the secession of Louisiana. Other support for the project came from the Mexico Society, a group of New Orleans businessmen who favored Mexican annexation.
As Aaron Burr gathered the necessary equipment, rumors of his plot reached him. He was summoned to federal court in Kentucky three times during 1806 and tried for treason. Each time he was acquitted, but he began to lose Wilkinson’s support. In the spring of 1807 he set out to meet his army at Blennerhassett home, not realizing that Wilkinson had already warned Jefferson of his plot.
Despite a cease and desist order from Jefferson and only a small display of men from Blennerhassett, Burr continued on his way to New Orleans. He finally surrendered in Bayou Pierre, just north of New Orleans, after seeing a copy of a decoded letter, the famous Cipher Letter, which he had sent to Wilkinson published in a local newspaper. He was tried in the Supreme Court for treason and acquitted because of John Marshall’s decision to define treason narrowly under the United States Constitution.
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