CHAPTER SIX
1. Parton, Life and Times of Aaron Burr, I: 320.
2. See AB to William Eustis, Oct. 20, 1797, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I, 315, 347; Theodosia Burr to John Bartow Prevost, Jan. 1798, Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 4.
3. See Robert Troup to Rufus King, May 6, 1799, and June 5, 1799, in The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, III: 14, 35.
4. Young, The Democratic Republicans, 569; and Alfred Young, “The Mechanics and the Jeffersonians: New York, 1789–1801,” Labor History 5 (1964): 262–63.
5. Young, “The Mechanics and the Jeffersonians,” 247, 259, 267–68.
6. According to Mary-Jo Kline, the tax reform bill provided the “machinery for a modern system” of tax collection and “a fair and consistent tax program.” It was intended to protect taxpayers from the “whims” of assessors by providing uniform guidelines and subjecting assessors to the supervision of state-appointed commissioners. It had one concrete advantage for mechanics, which Burr supported: it eliminated the duties on craftsmen. The bill became law on Apr. 1, 1799. In the same year, the municipal budget came under attack. The Republican New-York Journal argued that the municipal budget placed an unfair burden on city taxpayers. In the final bill, the amount was reduced from $150,000 to $110,000. Burr did his part to reduce the tax burden. He gathered information from his friend Charles Biddle on Philadelphia in order to compare that city’s expenses to those of New York. The act for the city taxes became law on April 3, 1799. For a discussion of these two laws, see Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 376–83, 384–86.
7. John Swartwout married a relative of Melancton Smith, and he was one of the executors of Melancton Smith’s will. Burr represented Swartwout and Smith’s family in a legal case protecting the heir’s estate. See Robin Brooks, “Melancton Smith,” 277, 288; Robert Troup and Peter Goelet v. Ezekiel Robins, John Swartwout, Margaret Smith, Melancton Jr., Richbill, Sydney, and Pheobe, June 3, 1799, in Burr Papers, microfilm, NYCC Cases, reel 20; and J. Scoville (Walter Barrett, pseudo), The Old Merchants of New York (New York, 1885), IV: 249. The Cayuga Bridge was spearheaded by Charles Williamson: he was the agent of the Pulteney associates (a group of British speculators) invested in developing the Genesee lands in central New York. Williamson was another one of Burr’s allies in the assembly—see John W. Wells, Cayuga Bridge (Ithaca, N.Y., 1958), 2; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 391–92.
8. John Coles, flour merchant and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, had been involved in the appointment of the Military Committee on which Burr served. Coles also had an interest in the Boston Post Road project: he acquired a sixty-year charter to collect tolls on his section of the road in 1798. See Beatrice G. Reubens, “Burr, Hamilton and the Manhattan Company: Part I: Gaining the Charter,” Political Science Quarterly 72 (Dec. 1957), 594, 596, 599; and “The Boston Road and Aaron Burr” (1921).
9. For Burr’s efforts to ensure that the mechanics were paid, see AB to William W. Woolsey, Feb. 24, 1800, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 415–16.
10. Charles E. Brooks, Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution: The Holland Land Purchase (Ithaca, N.Y., 1996), 4, 12; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 338–39; Paul Demund Evans, The Holland Land Company (Buffalo, N.Y., 1924), 206–07.
11. Evans, The Holland Land Company, 207–08, 212, Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, III: 627–28.
12. See “Holland Land C.: accounts, receipts, etc. for payment to AB, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Thomas Morris, et al. for legal costs,” Apr. 26–May 10, 1798, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 4; Evans, The Holland Land Company, 211–12; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, III: 629–30.
13. Scholars have ignored the important role of David A. Ogden. “Mr. L.” was most likely David Ogden’s younger brother, Thomas Ludlow Ogden; he claimed to have played a major role in getting the Alien Landowners’ Act passed. See Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, III: 629; Evans, The Holland Land Company, 224, 245; and “Background Note,” Ogden Family Papers, William L. Clements Library, University of Mich., Ann Arbor, Mich.
14. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 410.
15. “Holland Land C.: Cancellation of agreement to sell AB 100,000 acres of land,” June 15, 1799, Burr Papers, reel 4; AB to ?, Oct. 6, 1799, Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 407–11; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, III: 631; and Evans, The Holland Land Company, 209, 256.
16. See “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. IV,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 29, 1799, and article signed “Julius,” Commercial Advertiser, May 25, 1799.
17. For Browne’s theory, see the Report from the Common Council, Commercial Advertiser, Jan. 26, 1799; see also Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831 (New York, 1917), II: 486–89; and Pomerantz, New York An American City, 281–82.
18. For Burr’s interest in bank charters, see AB to William Eustis, Dec. 16, 1796, and AB to Thomas Morris, Feb. 1, 1797, in Kline., ed., Burr Papers, I: 279–87; also Reubens, “Burr, Hamilton, and the Manhattan Company: Part I,” 580–82. Both Federalist banks had “interlocking directories,” which included a small circle of Hamilton’s closest allies—see Young, The Democratic Republicans, 218–19.
19. See AH to Richard Varick (and enclosure), Feb. 26, 1799, in Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XXII: 508–11, 448; and Richard Varick to John Jay, Mar. 1, 1799, The Papers of John Jay, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
20. Ruebens, “Burr, Hamilton, and the Manhattan Company: Part I,” 587.
21. Ibid., 588, 592–93.
22. Ibid., 596.
23. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 401; Reubens, “Burr, Hamilton and the Manhattan Company: Part I,” 599; Gregory S. Hunter, “The Manhattan Company: Managing a Multi-Unit Corporation in New York, 1799–1842,” Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, 1989, 44–45.
24. Hunter, “The Manhattan Company,” 46–50.
25. See Robert E. Wright, “Artisans, Banks, Credit, and the Election of 1800,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 122 (July 1998): 227, 23; and Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XXII: 510.
26. See “The American,” signed “C.,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 26, 1799.
27. See “The American,” “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. II,” “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. IV,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 27, 29, 1799.
28. “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. II.” For Robert Swartwout’s introduction of the election reform bill, see Commercial Advertiser, Feb. 15, 1799.
29. “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. II.”
30. See ibid., “State of Manhattan,” and “The Anti-Revolutionist: No. IV,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 27, 29, May 22, 23, 1799. Burr was also accused of managing to “persuade some of the members and to intimidate and brow beat others,” to get the bill passed in the assembly—see “The American,” Commercial Advertiser, May 1, 1799.
31. See “To the Merchants of New York,” Commercial Advertiser, June 8, 1799. Federalists made similar attacks against Burr’s support of the Insolvent Act, claiming it would undermine the value of property, promote fraud, and disrupt the economy—see “The American,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 29, 1799.
32. See Beatrice G. Reubens, “Burr, Hamilton and the Manhattan Company: Part II: Launching a Bank,” Political Science Quarterly 73 (Mar. 1958), 105–08, 113, 116; Wright, “Artisans, Banks, and Credit,” 229.
33. See Nicholas Low to AB, Sept. 10, 1799 (enclosing spurious letter from AB to Low, Sept. 9), Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 4. For Low’s prominent role in opposing the Manhattan Company, see Reubens, “Burr, Hamilton and the Manhattan Company: Part II,” 109–10. Low was one of the original directors of the Bank of New York and a large shareholder; he was also a director of the New York branch of the Bank of United States. He was president of the United Insurance Company, which gave him an added incentive to oppose the Manhattan Company: it starting selling insurance in 1800. See Yo
ung, The Democratic Republicans, 213, 218–19; Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory (New York, 1800), 36; and an advertisement by the Manhattan Company for selling insurance in the American Citizen and General Advertiser, Mar. 15, 1800.
34. The Federalists won the election by 914 votes, and over 700 of those votes came from the Second and Third Wards. See election returns by ward in the Commercial Advertiser, May 4, 1799; see also John Dawson to James Madison, Dec. 12, 1799, in David B. Mattern, ed., The Papers of James Madison (Charlottesville, Va., 1991), XVII: 293.
35. Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 50, 59.
36. Robert Troup to Nicholas Low, Feb. 7, 1800, Troup Papers, New York Public Library; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 86.
37. See Brockholst Livingston to Isaac Gouverneur, Nov. 2, 1797, Livingston Family Papers, New York Public Library; and Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 73.
38. See “Alexander Hamilton, Esq.,” New-York Journal, Jan. 10, 1798. The same letter and accompanying opinions were printed on Jan. 10 and 11 in the Commercial Advertiser.
39. Robert Troup to Nicholas Low, Jan. 25, Feb. 7, 1800, Troup Papers, New York Public Library; Robert Troup to Rufus King, Mar. 9, 1800, Rufus King Papers, New-York Historical Society; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 86, 88, 116–18; and Tripp, Robert Troup,192–93.
40. Robert Troup to Rufus King, Mar. 9, 1800; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 83, 88.
41. Gouverneur Morris Diary, Gouverneur Morris Papers, Library of Congress; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 83–84. Later, Gouverneur Morris told Hamilton’s son, James Hamilton, that “I never forgave your father for his speech on that occasion.” See James Hamilton, Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton (New York, 1869), 12; and Tripp, Robert Troup, 192.
42. Gouverneur Morris Diary; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 83–84. Of course, Hamilton’s relatives painted a very different portrait of the battle between the two men. In his biography, Hamilton’s grandson claimed that Morris supposedly said to Hamilton, “Before I have done I am confident I shall make my learned friend cry out, ‘Help me, Cassius’ (pointing to Burr) ‘or I sink.’” If Morris did refer to Burr as Cassius, it underscores his impression that Burr was the counterbalance to Hamilton’s excessive harangues. “Help me, Cassius, or I sink!” is a famous quotation from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act I, scene 2. If Burr was Cassius, then Hamilton was Caesar. Morris’s point was to mock Hamilton’s hubris, acting godlike but depending on mere mortals like Cassius to save him. Morris’s selection of this quote is interesting, because the real Cassius was one of the greatest lawyers in Roman history—see Allan McLane Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton (New York, 1911), 169–70.
43. Isaac Gouverneur died on Feb. 28—see AB to Louis Le Guen, Mar. 1, 1800, Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 4. And for the response to Gouverneur’s death among the merchant community, see New-York Gazette and General Advertiser, Mar. 6, 1800, and Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, II: 87. In another announcement of his death, Gouverneur was praised as the beloved friend of merchants, mariners, and mechanics alike: “Ye hundreds!—Mechanics of every description—Mariners and all who have been employed by him, mingle your tears and sighs with mine, to waft the soul of your departed patron, into the harbor of peace”—Commercial Advertiser, Mar. 5, 1800.
44. See James Hardie, An Impartial Account of the Trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, for the supposed number of Miss Julianna Elmore Sands (New York, 1800), iii; Estelle Fox Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks or the Manhattan Well Mystery (Chicago, 1989), 1, 201.
45. Daily Advertiser, Jan. 4, 1800; Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks, 1–3; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, I: 696.
46. Ezra was born in 1772; Levi in 1776. See Robert D. Weeks, Genealogy of the Family of George Weeks, of Dorchester, Mass. (Newark, N.J., 1885), 170–71; Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory (New York, 1800), 369. Klieger includes a letter written by Levi Weeks in 1812, which demonstrates that he was well educated—see The Trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, 10–11, 207–22.
47. Hardie, An Impartial Account of the trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, v–vi; A Brief Narrative of the Trial for the Bloody and Mysterious Murder of the Unfortunate Young Woman, in the Famous Manhattan Well (New York, 1800), 5; Goebel, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, I: 697.
48. See Daily Advertiser, Jan. 9, 1800.
49. Burr and Brockholst Livingston had more experience than Hamilton in criminal cases. As attorney general, Burr had prosecuted a dozen murder and rape cases. Livingston had defended Henry Bedlow, in the most infamous rape trial in New York City during the 1790s. Burr alluded to the Bedlow trial in his opening remarks: the young woman had recanted her testimony, and it served as reminder to the jury of the dangers of the public passions. A mob had formed after Bedlow’s acquittal, destroying the bordello where the girl had claimed to have been raped; the same crowd threatened to destroy Livingston’s house. See William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, on an Indictment for the Murder of Gulielma Sands, on Monday the Thirty-First day of March, and Tuesday the First day of Apr., 1800 (New York, 1800), 12, 67; Goebels, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, I: 698; Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks, 29; and Report of the Trial of Henry Bedlow, for committing a rape on Hannah Sawyer: Final arguments of counsel on each side (New York, 1793).
50. See Colden’s opening remarks for his strategy, and the testimony of her two cousins (Catherine Ring’s was the longest testimony given in the trial) in Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 13–14, 16, 18–39; see also Goebels, ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, I: 698.
51. The Quaker was mocked by one of the jurors, who challenged his testimony by asking a humorous question. He also made a fool of himself earlier when he was asked to leave the courtroom during his wife’s testimony (Catherine Ring, Gulielma’s cousin), but snuck back in and stood behind her—Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks, 70–71, 79, 83.
52. Croucher was defended by Brockholst Livingston in his rape trial—and his appearance was central to the case. See Report of the Trial of Richard Croucher, on an indictment for the rape of Margaret Miller; on Tuesday, the 8th day of July, 1800 (New York, 1800), 20, 23; and A Brief Narrative of the Trial for the Bloody and Mysterious Murder, 14. The same pamphleteer confessed: “His appearance interested us greatly in his favor.” For Croucher’s fate, see Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks, 197–98.
53. Daily Advertiser, Apr. 3, 1800. Burr’s speech was the highlight of the trial. In one trial pamphlet, he was described as opening “in an eloquent and masterly manner”; in another, as giving “one of the most masterly speeches, both with respect to composition and oratory, which we have ever heard.” See A Brief Narrative of the Trial for the Bloody and Mysterious Murder, 10, and Hardie, An Impartial Account of the trial of Levi Weeks, 21.
54. Chernow wrongly attributes the speech to the “grandeloquent” and “florid style” of Hamilton. See Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York, 2004), 604. See also Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 64; Kleiger, The Trial of Levi Weeks, 113.
55. See Merrill D. Peterson, The Portable Thomas Jefferson (New York, 1975), 291.
56. Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 65–67.
57. Ibid., 94–95, 98; Daily Advertiser, Apr. 3, 1800; A Brief Narrative of the Trial for the Bloody and Mysterious Murder, 14; Hardie, An Impartial Account of the trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, 33–34.
58. Hardie, An Impartial Account of the trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, vi; Daily Advertiser, Apr. 3, 1800; Klieger, The Trial of Mr. Levi Weeks, 202.
59. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, Jan. 12, 1800, in Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, 12 vols. (New York, 1905), VII: 401–02; and Thom
as Jefferson to James Madison, Mar. 4, 1800, in Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert E. Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 20 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1903), X: 158–59.
60. For Burr’s “system” during the war years, see chapter two; for Burr’s “lists of voters, and personal histories of each,” see Parton, Life and Times of Aaron Burr, I: 250–51, and letter signed “Portius,” Commercial Advertiser, May 4, 1800.
61. Jefferson to Monroe, Jan. 12, 1800, Jefferson to Madison, Mar. 4, 1800, in Ford, ed., Works of Thomas Jefferson, VII: 413, 429–34; Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic, 245; and Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 42; also “To the People of the City and State of New York,” Commercial Advertiser, Apr. 23, 1800.
62. Davis, ed., Memoirs of Aaron Burr, II: 57. For Davis’s role in The Time Piece, see Shulim, John Daly Burk, 22; Philip Freneau, The Carrier of the Time Piece, presenting the following Address to his patrons, with the compliments of the season (New York, 1797); and Jerome Mushkat, “Matthew Livingston Davis and the Political Legacy of Aaron Burr,” New-York Historical Society Quarterly 59 (1975): 125–27.
63. See “Republican Veterans,” Aurora, Apr. 24, 1800. After his meeting with Burr, Jefferson also mentioned that “Clinton, General Gates, and some other old revolutionary characters, have been put on the ticket.” See Jefferson to Madison, Mar. 4, 1800, in Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., The Writing of Thomas Jefferson, X: 158; and American Citizen, Apr. 22, 28, 1800.
64. Elias Nexsen (merchant), Thomas Storm (merchant), George Warner (mechanic: sailmaker), Philip Arcularius (mechanic: tanner), James Hunt (merchant), Ezekiel Robins (mechanic: hatter), and John Swartwout (merchant) had all been in the 1798 assembly with Burr. Of the three Manhattan Company directors, Samuel Osgood, the first U.S. postmaster, was the father-in-law of DeWitt Clinton, George Clinton’s nephew; Brockholst Livingston was the son of William Livingston of Elizabethtown, N.J., and a cousin of Chancellor Livingston; and John Broome, merchant and war hero, was a friend of Burr. Broome and Burr had drafted the memorial from the New York Democratic Society protesting British depredations in 1798.
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