What Ever Happened to Aaron Burr?
Time Trip Fact of the Day 1/31/2022
The duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in 1804 remains perhaps the most infamous political fight in American history. Hamilton didn’t survive the morning exchange of gunfire but Vice President Aaron Burr did, and while his political career was over from that point on, his life would continue for 32 more years — 32 very strange years.
Burr acquired vast quantities of land on a lease with Spain just prior to the Louisiana Purchase. This included a large parcel in modern day Louisiana. He also had many friendly contacts up and down the frontier. In 1805 he spent considerable time moving up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to drum up support for his grand idea: he believed the frontier states were interested in seceding from the new United States and could perhaps be persuaded to make war with Spain and overtake Spanish territories in North America, or even leave the Union and establish their own country. Some of Burr’s contemporaries believed he wanted to make himself an emperor.
Burr found enthusiastic support from some people, including Harman Blennerhassett, who owned an island in the Ohio River for which he offered Burr a headquarters for training an army. This was all fine, but where Burr really erred was when he tried to get the British involved. Burr contacted British Foreign Minister Anthony Merry about the idea of the British lending their forces to the proposed insurrection. The British weren’t interested, but once this was uncovered, Burr was seen as a dangerous conspiracist — a man not to be trusted. In Richmond, Virginia, in 1807, Burr was brought up on charges of Treason. He was controversially found not guilty.
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Discussion question:
Why would Burr think that people living on the Frontier might have been open to the idea of establishing their own country?