112. AB to Jane McManus, Nov. 17, 1832, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 11; and Linda S. Hudson, Mistress of Manifest Destiny: A Biography of Jane McManus Storm Cazneau, 1807–1878 (Austin, Tex., 2001), 14–15, 17, 28–31.
113. AB to Jane McManus, Nov. 17, 1832, Enclosure: AB to Judge Workman, Nov. 16, 1832, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 11. Jane was in New York in early July 1834 (when Eliza Jumel presented her bill to the court), but by the end of the month she was back in Texas. See Hudson, Mistress of Manifest Destiny, 32–33; Eliza B. Burr v. AB, NYCC, 318, 361–63.
114. Eliza Jumel’s behavior in later years is consistent with this reading. The gay divorcée returned to Europe proclaiming herself the widow of the former U.S. vice president. She apparently felt there was a power in widowhood, translatable into social capital; but she enjoyed her independence more than she actually enjoyed being married to the seventy-seven-year-old Burr. See Eliza B. Burr v. AB, NYCC, 291, 301–02, 306–13, 354. For Burr’s reference to “Madame of the Heights,” see AB to Nelson Chase, Jan. 20, 1834, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1218. And for Jumel spreading gossip about Burr’s reckless spending, see Diary of William Dunlap (1766–1839): The Memoirs of a Dramatist, Theatrical Manager, Painter, Critic, Novelist, and Historian (New York, 1930), III: 796; and Constance M. Greiff, The Morris-Jumel Mansion: A Documentary History (Rocky Hill, N.J., 1995), 56.
115. Eliza B. Burr v. AB, NYCC, 291, 382–83; and People v. Johnson, 1837, and AB: Last Will and Testament, with codicils of Jan. 11, July 26, Dec. 27, 1835, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 11; Hudson, Mistress of Manifest Destiny, 37.
116. Ogden Edwards, the son of Pierpont Edwards, took care of the funeral arrangements. See Samuel Lewis Southard to Ogden Edwards, Sept. 16, 1836, in Papers of Pierpont Edwards Collection, 1756–1876, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1228; Davis, ed., Memoirs of Aaron Burr, II: 446–49.
EPILOGUE
1. For Burr’s lost papers, see Mary-Jo Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I, xxx. For Jefferson’s concerted effort to shape his historical legacy, see Burstein, Jefferson’s Secrets, 211–34. And for Jefferson’s family, who did everything possible to preserve his memory, see Jan Ellen Lewis, “The White Jeffersons,” in Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf, eds., Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture (Charlottesville, Va., 1999), 127–60; and Elizabeth Chew, “‘Our Pioneering Way’: Monticello, the Randolph Family, and Jefferson’s Memoirs of 1829,” Paper given at the Thomas Jefferson in Retirement Conference, Mar. 4, 2005. For the importance of Hamilton’s wife and family, and the publication of his papers, for protecting and enhancing his reputation, see Stephen F. Knott, Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth (Lawrence, Kans., 2002), 21–23, 154.
2. From a paper read by Judge John Greenwood before the Long Island, N.Y., Historical Society, on Sept. 24, 1863, reprinted in Parton, Life and Times of Aaron Burr, II: 403–14.
3. The Conspiracy; or, the Western Island: A Drama in Five Acts (1838) was published anonymously. Tarkington’s play was performed at the Fulton Theatre in New York City on Jan. 10, 1931—see Samuel H. Wandell, Aaron Burr in Literature (London, 1936), 232; and Charles J. Nolan, Jr., Aaron Burr and the American Literary Imagination (Westport, Conn., 1980), 189. Atherton also has a mysterious Madame La Croix (later Madame Jumel), a French spy and Jacobin, funding Burr’s political career in 1800; later, out of revenge against Hamilton for not leaving his family for her, she convinces Burr to challenge him to a duel—see Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, The Conqueror; A Dramatized Biography of Alexander Hamilton (New York, 1902), 459, 500, 509, 512–13; Thomas B. Sweeney, Aaron Burr’s Dream for the Southwest: A Drama for the Library (San Antonio, Tex., 1955), 3, 5, 116, 163, 173, 186–67, 193–94.
4. Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, 682, 704, 716.
5. Joseph Holt Ingraham, Burton; or, The Sieges: A Romance, 2 vols. (New York, 1838); for an obituary that claimed “as a successful ladies’ man there never was parallel to Aaron Burr in this country,” see New York Herald, July 12, 1836.
6. Virginia Tatnall Peacock, “Theodosia Burr (Mrs. Joseph Alston),” in Famous Belles of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia, 1901), 19; Emerson Hough, The Magnificent Adventure, this being the story of the world’s greatest exploration, and the romance of a very gallant gentleman; a novel (New York, 1916). And see Judge Champ Clark, “Address on Aaron Burr,” in Modern Eloquence, VII: 230; Anya Seaton, My Theodosia (Boston, 1941), 63, 117, 363–64; and Gore Vidal, Burr (New York, 1973), 137.
7. Jerome Dowd, Burr and Hamilton: A New York Tragedy (New York, 1884); Charles Frederic Nirdlinger, The First Lady of the Land: A Play in Four Acts (Boston, 1914), 12, 25, 32–33, 49, 51–54, 63–64, 78, 99–100, and 145. The same theme of Burr as the elegant but honorable suitor of Dolley Madison appears in David Nevins’s novel Treason (New York, 2003); see also Nolan, Aaron Burr and the American Literary Imagination, 77–78, 94–95.
8. Kennedy’s take on Jefferson is no less far-fetched than his take on the relationship between Hamilton and Burr. Reminiscent of Nirdlinger’s work of 1914, Kennedy’s Jefferson is jealous of Burr for having come between Madison and him, that is, for ruining their “bachelor partnership.” This time Jefferson is the closeted gay lover, who resents that Burr introduced Dolley to Madison. The suicide argument (Hamilton’s death wish) can be traced back to an article published in the Journal of Psychohistory in 1980. Atherton (see note 3 above) also relied on sexual jealousy as the reason for the duel. See Roger Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (New York, 1999), 42, 368; Arnold A. Rogow, A Fatal Friendship: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (New York, 1998), xiv, 266–67; also Knott, Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth, 196.
9. William Henry Venable, A Dream of Empire, or the House of Blennerhassett (New York, 1901), 83; Eudora Welty, “First Love” (1943) from The Wide Net and Other Stories, in The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (New York, 1983), 154, 159, 166.
10. See “Portrait of Burr,” Port Folio, May 16, 1807, 314–15.
11. Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York, 2000), 18. Other accomplished historians of the early period err in similar ways through a lack of thoroughness in researching Burr’s political conduct. John Ferling and Joanne Freeman both call Burr an “enigma,” and a man without principles; Freeman describes him in Chesterfieldian terms. She also contends that “Burr was a most unfounderlike Founder, and those who force him into the traditional ‘Founder’ model deny his very essence.” This skewed view of Burr’s character matches that of a Hamilton biographer, the politically conservative Forrest McDonald, who merely repeats what Hamilton said about Burr’s ambition, but makes no effort to obtain real proof. Two other conservative defenders of Federalism, Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, distort Burr’s character in their massive study of the 1790s. They describe him as a “consummate liar, less than the first rank of the Republic’s founders’ generation,” and again as an “enigma.” Elkins and McKitrick conclude that he was “not a representative man of his time. He was clearly a deviant type; whether he represented anything or anyone beyond himself is at best debatable.” In his 1994 presidential address before the Society for Historians of the Early Republic, William J. Rorabaugh observed that “Burr’s self-centeredness was legendary.” Gordon Wood, in his new book Revolutionary Characters, continues this reductionist tradition, claiming that Burr was the only founder who rejected the prevailing notion of virtue. In effect, Wood contends that Burr lacked both moral and political principle and was devoid of all the positive qualities that the other founders possessed. No one but Alfred Young stopped to investigate Burr’s role in state politics, wherein he clearly emerges as a legitimate actor. See John Ferling, Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (New York, 2004), 9, 95; Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic, 205, 211; and Freeman, “History as Told by the Devil Incarnate: Gor
e Vidal’s Burr,” in Mark C. Carnes, ed., Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America’s Past (and Each Other) (New York, 2001), 32; Forrest McDonald, Alexander Hamilton: A Biography (New York, 1982), 360; Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 (New York, 1993), 743–44; W. J. Rorabaugh, “The Political Duel in the Early Republic: Burr v. Hamilton,” Journal of the Early Republic 15 (Spring 1995): 5; Gordon Wood, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (New York, 2006); and Alfred Young, The Democratic Republicans of New York: The Origins, 1763–1797 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1967).
12. The Federalist Papers, ed. Clinton Rossiter (New York, 1961), 54–55.
13. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 367.
* Election day in 1796 was December 7.
* The Louisiana Purchase was divided in two territories: north of the 33rd parallel was the Louisiana Territory, and south of it the Orleans Territory. Today the 33rd parallel divides the states of Arkansas and Louisiana.
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Adair, John, 290, 294, 296, 305, 307, 309, 310, 314, 325–26, 350
Adams, Abigail, 122, 154
Adams, Henry, 290
Adams, John, vii, 16, 97, 134, 141, 154, 170, 261, 328, 329, 337, 365, 413, 414
—election of 1792, 3, 115, 116, 117, 118
—election of 1796, 146, 151, 152, 153
—as president (1797–1801), 162, 168, 170, 172, 173, 224, 225, 244, 245, 306, 326; and election of 1800–01, 196, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209, 213, 215, 217
Adams, John Quincy, 381
Adams, Samuel, 153, 208
Alderson, John, 395
Alexander, James, 314, 350
Alexander, Gen. William. See Stirling
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), 171–72, 174, 274, 326
Alien Landowners Act, 182
Allbright, Jacob, 358–59
Allen, Moses, 12–13, 14
Alston, Aaron Burr (AB’s grandson), 241, 264, 380, 387
Alston, Joseph (AB’s son-in-law), 159–60, 205, 216, 223, 236, 237, 246, 264, 267, 268, 269, 305, 322, 351–52, 368, 374, 385, 387, 390, 393–94, 409
Alston, Theodosia Burr (AB’s daughter), viii, 54, 56, 76, 82, 159, 178, 204, 223, 264, 305, 352, 356, 357, 370–71, 375–76, 377, 378, 380, 384–85, 386, 387, 388, 409; education, 79, 80, 81–83, 91, 124, 126, 139, 165, 236, 293; marriage to Alston (1801), 159–60, 216, 236, 237, 409; correspondence with Burr, 5–6, 81, 235, 236–39, 241, 255, 263, 268, 269, 282, 292, 293, 339, 340–41, 342, 346, 350, 357, 373, 374, 377, 380–81, 392; death at sea (1813), 387, 398, 405
Alston, William, 205
American Citizen, 224, 243, 248, 254, 255, 300, 331
American Whig Society, 11–12
Ammon, Harry, 166
Anderson, John, 396
Angerstein, John Julius, 156, 160
Angerstein tract, 156
Anti-Federalists, 85, 86, 87, 99–100, 101–3, 108, 117, 128
“Aristides” pamphlet (anon.), 250
Aristocracy (anon.), 139–40, 141
Armstrong, John, 228–29, 231, 251, 369, 384, 392
Arnold, Benedict, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 173, 245
Astor, John Jacob, 159
Atheron, Gertrude, The Conquerer, 408
Bache, Benjamin, 138, 172
Bache, Margaret, 172
bachelors, 58–59, 234
Baker, John, 339
Bank of New York, 98, 184
Bank of the United States, 108, 184, 369, 389
Bartow, Kate, 388
Bartow, Phoebe, 388
Bartram, William, Travels, 269
Bastrop property, 302, 305, 335, 355, 356
Bayard, James A., 177, 213–14, 219–20, 398
Bayard, Richard H., 398
Beccaria, Cesare, 105, 374
Beckley, John, 115–16, 120, 144, 147, 148–49, 150, 151, 152, 153, 205
Bellamy, Jonathan, 29, 57, 59
Bellamy, Rev. Joseph, 16, 21, 29, 56, 57, 83
Bellamy, Mrs., 56, 61
Bellamy family, 57, 58
Benson, Egbert, 234
Bentham, Jeremy, 134, 372–73, 374, 375, 376, 377, 379, 380, 388, 391
Biddle, Charles, 257–58, 261, 265, 267, 268, 284, 289, 363, 369, 397
Biddle, Capt. James, 397
Biddle, Nicholas, 369
Bigelow, Maj. John, 52
Bingham, Anne Willing, 122–23, 124
Bingham, William, 122
Binney, Susan, 239–40, 241
Bishop, Abraham, 249
Blair, Hugh, 29
Blennerhassett, Harman, 293, 306, 309, 315–16, 324, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 356, 357, 359, 360, 361, 363, 368–69, 370, 408; servants, 349, 356–57, 358–59
Blennerhassett, Margaret, 293, 356, 357, 368
Blennerhassett Island, 293, 304, 315–16, 324, 325, 333, 350, 352, 353, 354, 358–59, 360–61
Blodget, Rebecca, 389–90, 399
Blodget, Samuel, 389, 390
Bloomfield, Joseph, 204, 249, 276
Blount, William, 149, 150, 151–52, 173, 283
Bolívar, Simón, 395
Bollman, Dr. Justus Erich, 303, 313–14, 326, 327, 330, 336, 346–47, 349, 350, 352–53, 392
Bonaparte, Jérôme, 383
Bonaparte, Joseph, 372
Boston Post Road, 180
Boston Ten Townships, 96
Boswell, Samuel, 58, 378
Botts, Benjamin, 339, 361–62, 399
Bowdoin, James, 285, 337
Brackenridge, Hugh Henry, 12, 20; “Death of General Montgomery,” 19, 20, 27
Bradford, William, 16, 20, 27, 29, 56
Bradley, Stephen, 332
Brandywine, battle of, 40
Brannon, Michael, 44
Brant, Joseph, 94, 159
Britain (England), 125, 135, 136, 171, 174, 272, 283, 290, 291, 292, 369–70, 371, 372, 379–80, 383, 387
British (English) army, 32, 33, 35, 36, 40, 42, 43, 45, 62, 63, 66, 76, 88
British Parliament, 15
Brooke, Robert, 145
Broome, John, 198
Brown, John, 149, 150, 294, 296, 300, 304, 306, 307
Brown, Dr. Preston, 306
Browne, Dr. Joseph, 76, 180, 183–84, 185, 287
Brummell, Beau, 348, 410–11
Bunker Hill, battle of, 33, 36
Burdett, Charles, 397
Burk, John, 170, 171, 172
Burr, Aaron
—birth, 3
—childhood, 2–3, 4–6, 7
—education: Presbyterian Academy, 8, 9; College of New Jersey (Princeton), 9–16, 83, 115, 405; theological studies with Bellamy, 16, 21, 56, 83; law studies with Reeve, 59, 73
—with Continental forces: in Montgomery’s attack on Quebec (1775), 19–20, 22–23, 24, 30–31, 62, 156; on Washington’s staff, 33–34; on Putnam’s staff, 33, 34, 35, 36–37; appointment as lieutenant colonel and response to Washington, 37–40; with Malcolm’s regiment, 37, 40–45, 46; West Point assignment, 48–49; Westchester County assignment under McDougall, 49–53
—marriage to Theodosia: eligible bachelor period preceding, 55–61; first meeting, 61, 64; military escort journey, 67; growing affection and friendship, 69, 70, 71–72, 74, 75; wedding at the Hermitage (1782), 3, 75–76, 180; children born to, 76; nature of their partnership, 77–79; her death, 127
—law practice: apprenticeships, 73, 83; licensing (1782), 75–76; move to New York, 76–77, 88; cases and
courtroom style, 88–90, 91–92; defense of Prevost claim, 93–94; concurrent land speculation, 92, 93, 94–96, 97–98; Greenleaf suit, 101–2
—first term as a New York State assemblyman (1784–85), 90, 98–99
—as New York State attorney general (1789–91), 104–5, 110, 111, 374; “Observations,” 104–5
—as a U.S. senator (1791–97), viii, 1–2, 77, 105–6, 107, 108, 111–12, 123, 124, 126–27, 130, 136, 140, 148, 155, 170, 191; roles in New York State gubernatorial election and publication of An Impartial Statement of the Controversy . . . (1792), 108–10, 111–13, 114, 115, 132; appointment to state Supreme Court rejected, 117; and Reynolds case, 121–22; defense of Gallatin, 132–34; criticism of Jay appointment and treaty, 135–38; satires against, 138–41; campaign for New York State governorship (1795), 142, 143–45; campaign for vice presidency (1796), 145–49, 150–54, 155, 160
—financial problems after land speculation failures of 1797, 155–61; loss of Richmond Hill, 158–59; German Company investment, 160–61
—second term as a New York State assemblyman (1798–99), 162, 178–87, 188, 189, 253, 413; service on Military Committee and passage of bill for New York City fortifications, 168–69, 170–71, 181; support of Burk and Gallatin and opposition to alien laws, 170, 171, 172, 173–75, 413; Holland Land Company deal, 181–83; duel with Church, 164, 182, 188; establishment of Manhattan Land Company, 183–86, 187–88; loss in 1799 election, 178, 188
—high profile court cases: Le Guen v. Gouverneur and Kemble, 189–91; Levi Weeks murder trial, 191–96
Fallen Founder Page 69
