The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of An Early American Crisis

by James E. Lewis, Jr.,
Tulsa World, December 10, 2017

In the first three decades of the 19th century, William Seward declared, Aaron Burr dragged on “a dishonored existence among a generation which [knew him] only by the history of his crimes.” After honorable service in the Revolutionary War and a prominent role in building the Democratic-Republican Party in New York State, Burr schemed to use an ambiguity in the Constitution to upend the election of 1800 and become president of the United States. Four years later, he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. In 1807, Burr was accused of treason for organizing a military expedition designed to create a new nation from land west of the Appalachian Mountains.