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Page 13
On March 2, 1805, Aaron Burr, vice-president of the United States,
and president of the senate, retired from the chair two days before
his term expired. He made a farewell address, which produced a greater
impression upon that body than any other words ever spoken there. Every
senator was weeping, and for a long time no one could leave his seat or
propose any business. It was a sight for the nation to look upon and
wonder. For fourteen years he had been one of the most conspicuous
members of that body.
Aaron Burr's ultimate ruin was wrought by his colonization experiment in
Louisiana. In popular opinion, there was something traitorous in that
unsuccessful venture of his. In 1805 Mr. Burr paid $50,000 for 400,000
acres of land which had been purchased of Spain in 1800, before it
passed to France and then to the United States in 1803. Of the motive of
Colonel Burr we must always be ignorant; that he was not guilty of any
crime in connection therewith we are certain, for the highest tribunal
of the land acquitted him. President Jefferson and the entire political
force of the administration were bent upon his conviction, but Chief
Justice Marshall, as capable, honorable, and incorruptible a jurist as
the country has known, would not have it so. Unfortunately, the
brilliant arraignment by William Wirt was printed and read for half a
century, while the calm rulings of Chief Justice Marshall never went
beyond the court room.
Why did a man of his capabilities, upon retirement from the
vice-presidency, attempt, at fifty years of age to start life anew under
such unpromising conditions? Because he was suddenly politically and
professionally ruined. Ruined because he had killed Alexander Hamilton
in a duel. Why did he do it? It is a long story.
To make it intelligent, his life must be reviewed. After a brilliant
military career, which began when he was nineteen and left him an
heroic colonel, he studied law and practiced in Albany. At the age
of twenty-eight he was a leader in the New York legislature, and was
chairman of the most important committees, always with the people,
against the aristocracy--an unpardonable mistake in those times.
At thirty-four he was attorney-general of the state, and his great
decisions were accepted by all other states. At thirty-four he
established the Manhattan bank of New York city. He was the only man
with the ability or courage to find a way to establish a bank for the
people, and the solidity of that institution for a hundred years is an
all-sufficient vindication of his plan. At thirty-five he was appointed
and confirmed as a supreme court judge of New York state, but he
declined the honor, and was the same year elected to the United States
senate. He was re-elected, serving in all fourteen years.
At the second presidential election Senator Burr received one vote in
the electoral college, at the third he received thirty, and in the
fourth received seventy-three. Jefferson also received seventy-three and
the election was thrown into the house. This was in 1800 and Mr. Burr
was forty-years of age. The choice lay with New York, which could be
carried by no man but Aaron Burr.
Alexander Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists. He also was of
New York. It was a battle of the giants. These two men measured swords.
The presidency of the United States was the prize both parties--the
Federalists and the Democrats--were seeking. New York had always been
with the Federalists. In this great struggle it went against Hamilton
and for Burr. This ended the political career of Hamilton, and would
have done so had he lived longer. He was one of America's greatest
statesmen, but one of the poorest politicians. No one could get along
with him but Washington, and when he died the political end of Hamilton
came.
Jefferson and Burr each received seventy-three votes for president, and
Adams received sixty-five. New York had twelve votes, so that if she
had remained with the Federalist candidate Adams, he would have won,
seventy-seven to sixty-one. This defeat angered Hamilton beyond
endurance. He and Burr had been deadly rivals for thirty years, first
for the love of woman, then for military preferment, and later in the
political arena. When Burr established the Manhattan bank, Hamilton's
brother-in-law, inspired by Hamilton, attacked Burr's motive, with the
result of a duel in which neither was harmed.
Notwithstanding Hamilton's greatness, he was always in trouble with men
and women. He never ceased his abuse of Burr, whose election as senator
angered him. Later, when Burr was the choice of congress as minister to
Paris, backed especially by Madison and Monroe, Hamilton succeeded in
compassing his defeat. Again, when Adams had decided upon some important
appointment for Burr, Hamilton succeeded in defeating him. This made
Burr's promotion to the vice-presidency and his own downfall the more
exasperating to Hamilton.
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