Aaron Burr Treason Trial Essay Research Paper
Aaron Burr Treason Trial Essay, Research Paper
The early 1800 & # 8217 ; s were an unusual clip in the history of the United States. A state in its babyhood, turning, turbulent, and filled with machination where political and economic lucks were made and lost nightlong. While the state was founded on baronial thoughts & # 8212 ; and no uncertainty these powerful thoughts were taken earnestly & # 8212 ; how such thoughts were to be put into pattern created fertile land for personal aspiration and involvement to be a stronger incentive than the & # 8220 ; common good & # 8221 ; . In fact, at times it appears that the thoughts were little more than vehicles for the personal aspirations & # 8212 ; and in the instance of this narrative & # 8212 ; the personal blood feuds of powerful personalities.
Aaron Burr, brilliant, ambitious, and a great speechmaker, was surely larger than life. And his conflicts with Thomas Jefferson & # 8212 ; no less a dramatic figure & # 8212 ; lead eventually to his test for lese majesty against the United States. This test was the apogee of a personal political conflict between two great figures where Jefferson would halt at nil to destruct Burr & # 8230 ; even if it meant mistreating the rules that he himself help enshrine as the footing for the United States. This test, and the predating events, are the topic of this paper. Reviewing the facts illustrates that the test was truly more about a blood feud between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr than the jurisprudence.
Aaron Burr was born in 1756 and was one of the lifting stars of the new democracy. A lifting star many felt was certain to be the President of the immature state and to be a distinguished one at that. Burr & # 8217 ; s struggle with Jefferson began when they tied for the presidential election of 1800. The election so went to the House of Representatives where Burr rejected Federalist overtures for a alliance, but did non publically back up giving the Presidency to Jefferson. Burr felt that an election should non be won through alliances and he was particularly acrimonious about the thought of working with the Federalists. Burr, chesty, confident and swearing in the & # 8216 ; rightness & # 8217 ; of his place, made no attempt to carry Congress to his side. On the other manus, Jefferson rapidly established trades with many of the Federalist congresswomans to see their ballots and accordingly won the presidential term. During several depositions following the election it became really clear to the populace that Jefferson had worked with the Federalists in order to procure the election. A laminitis and the leader of the Republicans had, in the terminal, sided with the resistance in order to see his ain presidential triumph. This political maneuvering to guarantee his election made Jefferson look timeserving and self-seeking, and left an abiding black topographic point on his repute that was ne’er removed. Jefferson straight blamed Burr, and he would mistrust and contemn Burr for the remainder of his life. A close friend of Jefferson even declared, & # 8220 ; that this fixed the fate of Colonel Burr & # 8230 ; Mr. Jefferson & # 8217 ; s malevolence toward Colonel Burr ne’er ceased but with his last breathe. & # 8221 ;
In the terminal, the election concluded with Jefferson as President and Burr as Vice President. Their personal hostility merely grew worse while they were forced to work together in the White House. Jefferson eventually ousted Burr from the Republican ticket during his reelection. After this Burr would try to run for the governorship of New York, but through clever planning by Alexander Hamilton he would lose this election. This would ensue in the ill-famed dual of award between Burr and Hamilton, in which Hamilton was fatally shot by Burr. Wanted for slaying in two provinces, Burr would so be forced to fly to the West. Thus began the concluding chapter of his ambitious calling.
Burr was about 50 when he arrived in the West for the first clip. He was amazed by the sum of wild land and openness of the western fields, but was most impressed by the unbelievable isolation. His natural appeal and great oratorical accomplishment would function him good in this wild land. His eldritch ability to rock little and big groups likewise & # 8211 ; in an land where outsized thoughts and aspirations seemed the order of the twenty-four hours & # 8211 ; would help him on the route in front.
Burr came west with no clear thought what to make. He thought he might merely reconstruct his legal calling, speculate in land, and seek public office. Or perchance build a canal around the Falls of the Ohio. But such thoughts didn & # 8217 ; t rather fit with a adult male who had been so near to the Presidency of the Republic. It is non known precisely where the thought for a confederacy came from, but on April 29, 1805 Burr unveiled his program to take a revolution in Mexico ( still a settlement of Spain ) over dinner with Herman Blennerhassett. Blennerhassett was a rich landholder who lived on a 300-acre island on the Ohio River and Burr realized that for this program to win it would necessitate a great trade of money, work forces and other resources.
But Blennerhassett wasn & # 8217 ; t much for expansive foreign escapades and Burr finally settled on a scheme of victimizing Britain and Spain into giving him the money and the military personnels he needed to revolutionise Mexico. This was hard from the start, particularly since the Spaniards controlled Mexico at the clip.
Burr & # 8217 ; s program was to lie to both Britain and Spain, stating them he was seeking to rupture the United States in half, east from West. But alternatively of interrupting up the state he intended alternatively to utilize the money and military personnels from Spain and Britain to occupy Mexico. He outlined the first portion of his scheme in a missive to Anthony Merry, the British curate to the US, and Don Carlos Yrujo, the Spanish curate to the US on January 1st, 1806. This missive finally ended up in the custodies of president Jefferson, and would go an of import portion of the prosecution & # 8217 ; s instance against Burr in his test for lese majesty. Burr maintained that he ne’er had any purpose of perpetrating lese majesty & # 8212 ; it was merely a artifice against two states that were non peculiarly popular in the US at that clip. Since it was good known at that clip that to perpetrate lese majesty you had to really perpetrate an open act of lese majesty, non merely be after one, Burr claimed ( subsequently ) that his scheme was a sensible 1.
Burr & # 8217 ; s expansive program began to neglect when he realized he could non obtain the financess he required without the aid of both Yrujo and Merry. Both curates had, unknown to Burr, discovered his true purposes. This left Burr desperate for financess and with nowhere else to turn except the east seashore of the United States ( where he was still wanted for slaying & # 8230 ; though cipher seemed peculiarly interested in prosecuting him ) . Shortly after his arrival rumours began to distribute that Burr was seeking to divide the East from the West. Jefferson, holding received a missive about Burr & # 8217 ; s offer to Yrujo and Merry, rapidly made a public proclamation declaring that he had learned of a confederacy to divide the state and that everyone associated with it should distance themselves every bit shortly as possible ( though he ne’er mentioned Burr & # 8217 ; s name ) . Within several yearss the confederacy was shattered.
Three months subsequently, on January 22nd, 1806, President Jefferson issued a particular message to congress stating, & # 8220 ; Aaron Burr was the & # 8216 ; arch plotter & # 8217 ; in a faithless endeavor to split the nation. & # 8221 ; Although Jefferson gave no grounds at this clip, Burr & # 8217 ; s repute was ruined and public sentiment would be against him for the remainder of his life.
There were several of import plotters who helped Burr with his program. The most of import, and a cardinal informant later in the test against Burr, was General James Wilkinson. General Wilkinson was a corrupt and selfish politician who was ever willing to sell himself to the highest bidder. In 1787 Wilkinson swore commitment to the Spanish Crown in order to acquire the sole privilege to sell Kentucky green goods in the city of Louisiana. He would subsequently seek to divide Kentucky from Virginia, with the thought that upon accomplishing statehood Kentucky would non fall in the United States, but would be left free to do programs with its Spanish neighbours. This incident is known as the Spanish Conspiracy and it merely becomes more criminative when it was discovered that Wilkinson was having $ 2,000 a twelvemonth from the Spanish authorities. After this Wilkinson would fall in the ground forces and after merely eight old ages, become the superior general. At this point the Spanish authorities was paying him $ 16,000 for his & # 8220 ; services & # 8221 ; . It may be that the corrupt Wilkinson was the lone existent treasonist in this narrative & # 8230 ; but he hadn & # 8217 ; t made Thomas Jefferson his personal enemy.
Wilkinson & # 8217 ; s function in Burr & # 8217 ; s program was to take Burr & # 8217 ; s ground forces of soldier of fortunes against Mexico. In exchange, Burr would assist Wilkinson go governor of the Louisiana district ( which he did ) and counterbalance him with lands gained from Mexico. When Burr & # 8217 ; s program was uncovered, and Wilkinson learned that President Jefferson had heard of the secret plan, he rapidly wrote Jefferson a missive acknowledging everything trusting to derive insurance in exchange for attesting against Burr.
Jefferson foremost heard about Burr & # 8217 ; s plan on December 1st, 1805. But for a full twelvemonth he did nil. This has led many historiographers to believe that Jefferson may hold been involved in a secret plan to really border Burr. It wasn & # 8217 ; t until Jefferson received a missive from the postmaster general on October 16th, 1806, ( saying that Burr & # 8217 ; s program was to divide the state ) that Jefferson made the proclamation warning people to distance themselves from the confederacy. Jefferson hoped that in doing a moderate announcement, and that by non adverting Burr straight, that he could pin down Burr in a more open act of lese majesty that could be better prosecuted. However by January 22nd, 1807, Jefferson felt that he had gathered suited grounds to convict Burr and he delivered his message to congress impeaching Burr of being the & # 8216 ; arch-conspirator & # 8217 ; in a Western secret plan.
John Randolph, a congresswoman, was outraged after hearing Jefferson & # 8217 ; s announcement agains
T Burr and ordered Jefferson to supply grounds for his serious accusals. Jefferson provided several letters that he claimed were all written by General Wilkinson ( although, in fact, some weren’t ) . The letters mentioned both a secret plan to divide the West from the East and Burr’s purposes to occupy Mexico. Congress was convinced.
Three months subsequently on March 30th, 1807, Burr was arrested in Richmond, Virginia, on several charges. The first charge was the misdemeanour of holding set Forth on an expedition against the rules of the King of Spain. The 2nd charge was lese majesty for holding assembled an armed force for the intent of prehending the metropolis of New Orleans, revolutionising Orleans Territory, and dividing the Western from the Atlantic provinces. The warrant for his apprehension was written and delivered by Chief Justice John Marshall, who was besides a taking citizen of Richmond. Burr went peacefully into detention and awaited the beginning of his test. Since he was arrested in the legal power of the Chief Justice it was decided that Marshall would preside over the instance. This would hold a profound consequence on the instance.
Prosecuting Burr was U.S. Attorney George Hay, a nice attorney but nil compared to the superb legal heads of the defence. Fortunately for Hay nevertheless, he received day-to-day letters from Jefferson ( a brilliant attorney ) offering legal advice. Finally, Jefferson began to order the legal schemes of the defence ( surely a questionable action from the Chief Executive ) . The prosecution planned to convict Burr by utilizing a case in point established in a old test. That case in point established that if a faithless act is in fact committed all individuals involved, no affair how little their engagement, are guilty of lese majesty. They planned to demo that a group of 50 or so work forces assembled on Blennerhassett island for a faithless intent, and that although Burr wasn & # 8217 ; t nowadays at the clip, his engagement in the strategy made him guilty of lese majesty.
The prosecution was aided by the obviously illegal actions of President Jefferson, who at this point was directing clean forgivenesss to Hay and authorising him to excuse anyone involved in the confederacy if they would attest against Burr.
The defence was made up of Burr himself, Edmund Randolph, John Wickham, and Luther Martin. These work forces were four of the best attorneies in the state and were all united in one thing, their hatred of President Jefferson. Their legal scheme was to picture Burr as the victim of a Presidential disposal that had pursued him unrelentingly and that had repeatedly violated his civil rights.
Burr besides made a petition for a subpoena to necessitate Jefferson to present several paperss, including Jefferson & # 8217 ; s correspondence with Wilkinson. The tribunal supported Burr & # 8217 ; s petition and this created a power clang between the judicial and executive subdivisions. How should the independency of the president be balanced against the rights of an accused to obtain grounds? In the terminal, nevertheless, Jefferson submitted the paperss, although he made it really clear that he was merely making so because he deemed the paperss did non compromise national security.
The test eventually began after a Grand jury indicted Burr on both charges. It took 96 prospective jurymans before 12 suited 1s could be found. This was because most admitted to a prejudice against the suspect.
The prosecution had indicated they intended to name a big figure of informants. However, few were really allowed to attest in tribunal because of expostulations by the defence or opinions by justice Marshall. For case, testimony from William Eaton was ne’er allowed because the defence forced him to acknowledge that the authorities had late settled a long standing claim for $ 10,000 which the authorities merely agreed to pay when Eaton agreed to attest. Others were disallowed because of the forgivenesss given to them by Jefferson. Surely the ardor of the prosecution, driven straight by the President, didn & # 8217 ; t assist their instance.
Burr and his co-workers argued two major points. First, no act of lese majesty had of all time occurred. Since the definition of lese majesty in the fundamental law requires an open act of war against the state and since no act of war was committed so no act of lese majesty existed. Second, reasoning against the earlier case in point, since Burr was non even present when the supposed act of lese majesty took topographic point, he clearly could non be guilty.
Several yearss subsequently on Monday, August 31, 1807, Marshall carefully and meticulously delivered a three-hour determination. He ruled that contrary to a old sentiment, existent presence at the island was indispensable for cogent evidence of an open act ; & # 8220 ; To rede or secure lese majesty & # 8230 ; is non treason in itself. & # 8221 ;
The following twenty-four hours the instance went to the jury, which ruled & # 8220 ; We of the jury say that Aaron Burr is non proved to be guilty under this indictment by any grounds submitted to us. We therefore find him non guilty. & # 8221 ; Jefferson was so outraged by the opinion that he threatened to impeach Marshall, and even took it to congress, but Congress ne’er brought the impeachment to a ballot.
History has made its appraisal. Jefferson & # 8217 ; s personal hate of Burr rebelliously drove him to unsuitably prosecute, and even illicitly conspire to convict, a political opposition. Normally a brilliant and capable attorney, based on the same facts he ne’er would hold brought a instance of lese majesty against an unknown adult male. Furthermore, had he non cognize Burr he would ne’er hold let himself acquire as involved, preferring to allow justnesss take its class. Under the influence of his nationalism, Jefferson may hold believed that composing a missive be aftering lese majesty was treason but more likely he merely wanted to destruct Burr.
Clearly, Jefferson allow his ain prejudice and vengefulness thrust his behaviour and in so making violated the really thing he tried so difficult to protect, the Constitution. While he didn & # 8217 ; t win in acquiring Burr convicted he did carry through the drive aim. After the test Burr was so hated by the populace that he was about lynched in the streets and was forced to fly America in a camouflage to Europe where he stayed for four old ages in complete poorness. When he eventually returned to United States his girl and immature grandson died at sea.
On his deathbed in 1836 a friend asked Burr if he had of all time intended to divide the West from the Union. Burr responded, & # 8220 ; NO! I would every bit shortly have thought of taking ownership of the Moon and informing my friends that I intended to split it among them. & # 8221 ; Still, as an illustration of how politicians use address filled with baronial sentiments to prosecute the basest of political purposes, the test of Aaron Burr remains relevant. Those shocked by the ego functioning behaviour during our last presidential election & # 8212 ; keening the passing of more dignified times & # 8212 ; may, by analyzing history, find that things truly haven & # 8217 ; t changed that much at all.
Bibliography
Notes
Harrison, Lowell. & # 8220 ; The Aaron Burr Conspiracy & # 8221 ; American History Illustrated June 1978: 17.
Harrison 18.
Jenkinson, Isaac. Jefferson And Burr ( Richmond: M. Cullaton Printers, 1898. ) 40.
Jenkinson 53.
Jenkinson 55.
Harrison 18.
Jenkinson 42.
Harrison 18.
Vidal, Gore. Burr ( New York: Random House, INC. , 1973 ) 58.
Harrison 19.
Blennerhassett, Harmon. Harmon Blennerhassett & # 8217 ; s Journal ( Athinais: Ohio University Press, 1988 ) 54.
McCaleb, Walter. The Aaron Burr Conspiracy ( New York: Wilson-Erickson, 1936 ) 26.
McCaleb 30.
Baker, Leonard. John Marshall: A Life in Law ( New York: Macmillan printing Co. , 1974 ) 56.
Abernathy, Thomas. The Burr Conspiracy ( New York: Oxford University imperativeness, 1954 ) 54.
Smith, Jean. John Marshall ; Definer of a Nation ( New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. ) 353.
Smith 354.
Harrison 21.
Abernathy 5.
Abernethy 6.
Abernethy 6.
McCaleb 120.
Abernathy 151.
Abernathy 183.
McCaleb 167.
McCaleb 168.
Smith 354.
Abernathy 195.
Abernathy 196.
Harrison 21.
Harrison 21.
Hobson, Charles. The Great Chief Justice ( New York: University Press of Kansas, 1996. ) 196.
Hobson 236.
Jenkinson 27.
Bernie, Francis. Shout Treason: The Trial of Aaron Burr. ( New York, 1959. ) 127.
Harrison 22.
Abernathy 233.
Harrison 22.
Harrison 23.
Abernathy 196.
Abernathy 197.
Harrison 20.
Jenkinson 375.
Vidal 376.
Harrison 22.
Harrison 23.
Smith 373.
Harrison 24. Bibliography
Abernathy, Thomas. The Burr Conspiracy. New York: Oxford University imperativeness, 1954.
Baker, Leonard. John Marshall: A Life in Law. New York: Macmillan printing Co. , 1974.
Bernie, Francis. Shout Treason: The Trial of Aaron Burr. New York: 1959.
Blennerhassett, Harmon. Harmon Blennerhassett & # 8217 ; s Journal. Athinais: Ohio University Press, 1988.
Harrison, Lowell. & # 8220 ; The Aaron Burr Conspiracy & # 8221 ; . American History Illustrated, June, 1978.
Hobson, Charles. The Great Chief Justice. New York: University Press of Kansas, 1996.
Jenkinson, Isaac. Jefferson And Burr. Capital of virginia: M. Cullaton Printers, 1898.
McCaleb, Walter. The Aaron Burr Conspiracy. New York: Wilson-Erickson, 1936.
Smith, Jean. John Marshall ; Definer of a Nation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
Vidal, Gore. Burr. New York: Random House, INC. , 1973.
