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Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr 1756-1836, American political leader, b. Newark, N.J., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton).
Political Career
A brilliant law student, Burr interrupted his study to serve in the American Revolution and proved himself a valiant soldier in early campaigns. In 1779 ill heal...
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James Parton
James Parton 1822-91, American biographer, b. England. He came to the United States in 1827. In 1848 he joined the staff of N. P. Willis's Home Journal in New York City. His biographical writing began with the very successful Life of Horace Greeley (1855) and was followed by biographies of Aaro...
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Tapping Reeve
Tapping Reeve 1744-1823, American lawyer and jurist, b. Brookhaven, N.Y. In 1784 he opened his law school in Litchfield, Conn.; it was one of the first schools of law in the United States. Aaron Burr, John C. Calhoun, Horace Mann, and many other future senators, governors, and judges studied there....
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Luther Martin
Luther Martin c.1748-1826, American lawyer and political leader, b. New Brunswick, N.J. He practiced law in Maryland and became the first attorney general of the state, holding office from 1778 to 1805 and again from 1818 to 1822 (although he was inactive in his last two years of office). He was a ...
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Edmund Pendleton Gaines
Edmund Pendleton Gaines 1777-1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surveyed (1801-4) Gaines Trace between Nashville and Natchez. In 1807 he arrested Aaron Burr and then testif...
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John Vanderlyn
John Vanderlyn , 1776-1852, American portrait and historical painter, b. Kingston, N.Y. Under the patronage of Aaron Burr he studied with Gilbert Stuart and in Paris. From 1796 to 1815 much of his life was spent in Paris and in Rome. He achieved a high reputation with such compositions as Marius am...
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William Wirt
William Wirt , 1772-1834, U.S. Attorney General and author, b. Bladensburg, Md. He had little formal schooling but was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1792. His first book was an anonymous collection of sketches called The Letters of a British Spy (1803), which purported to be the work of a "mee...
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James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson 1757-1825, American general, b. Calvert co., Md. Abandoning his medical studies in 1776 to join the army commanded by George Washington, he served as a captain in Benedict Arnold's unsuccessful Quebec campaign. Later he was Gen. Horatio Gates's deputy adjutant general in the Saratog...
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duel
duel prearranged armed fight with deadly weapons, usually swords or pistols, between two persons concerned with a point of honor. The duel may have originated in the wager of battle, an early mode of trial in which an accused person fought with his accuser under judicial supervision (see ordeal )....
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Zebulon Montgomery Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike 1779-1813, American explorer, an army officer, b. Lamberton (now part of Trenton), N.J. He joined the army (c.1793) and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1799. In 1805 he led an exploring party to search for the source of the Mississippi River; although he mistakenly ide...
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