Burr, Aaron

BURR, AARON. (1756–1836). Continental Army officer. Third vice president. New Jersey. Son of Aaron Burr, second president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the eminent theologian. Young Aaron was a bright, unruly child who was raised by his maternal uncle after the death of his parents. He graduated with distinction from the College of New Jersey at the age of sixteen, studied theology until 1774, and then undertook the study of the law.

As a captain on Arnold's march to Quebec, he proved himself to be an able soldier, and he survived the blast that killed Montgomery at the assault on Quebec. In the spring of 1776 Congress promoted him to major and appointed him to George Washington's staff, but he left headquarters at New York City after a few weeks because he and Washington had developed a mutual dislike and distrust. On 22 June, Burr became aide-de-camp to Israel Putnam, at which post he conducted himself admirably in the battle of Long Island and in the evacuation of New York City. On 4 January 1777 he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of Malcolm's additional Continental regiment. Stationed in Orange County, New York, the twenty-one-year-old Burr established a reputation for courage and good discipline. He commanded an outpost that protected the Continental Army's winter quarters at Valley Forge in 1777–1778, and although he may have sympathized with Washington's critics, he took no active role in the so-called Conway Cabal that winter. He led his regiment in the battle at Monmouth on 28 June 1778, where his regiment was mauled and both commander and men suffered from the extreme heat and humidity. He openly sided with Charles Lee in the subsequent controversy about the conduct of the battle. After Monmouth, Washington sent the regiment to Westchester County, New York, where Burr maintained his reputation for discipline and alert soldiering in the field. On 3 March 1779 he resigned his commission on grounds of ill health, a condition that had been exacerbated by his experience at Monmouth. It was not until the fall of the next year that he was well enough to resume the study of law.

Burr was admitted to the New York bar in 1782 and the next year moved to New York City, where he and Alexander Hamilton competed for preeminence. He was elected to the state assembly in 1784; appointed attorney general by Governor George Clinton in September 1789; and elected U.S. senator in 1791 over Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law. He failed to win reelection in 1797, but won a seat in the state senate for the next two years. Thereafter, he built a strong Democratic-Republican Party organization in New York City that helped the party capture control of the state legislature in 1800, a success that secured him the second slot on the party ticket headed by Jefferson in the presidential election. Because presidential electors at that time did not vote separately for president and vice president, both Burr and Jefferson ended up with seventy-three electoral votes each. Hamilton threw his support to Jefferson, ensuring his election as president in the House of Representatives. As vice president, Burr presided over the Senate in a manner that won praise from both parties, but he was dropped from the ticket in 1804 and failed later that year to win election as New York governor, a defeat he again attributed to Hamilton's political enmity. Angry at the failure of his political career, Burr sought satisfaction by challenging Hamilton to a duel. The antagonists met at ten paces the morning of 11 July 1804 at Weehawken, New Jersey. Each man fired, and Hamilton fell mortally wounded. For the next three years, Burr pursued a quixotic—and treasonous—effort to separate the western states from the Union. Acquitted of treason on 1 September 1807, Burr fled to England. After returning in May 1812 he pursued the practice of law in New York City for the rest of his life.

SEE ALSO Arnold's March to Quebec; Hamilton, Alexander.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kline, Mary-Jo, ed. Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Lomask, Milton. Aaron Burr. 2 vols. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1979, 1982.

                              revised by Harold E. Selesky