WEBVTT - Ambitions 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.760 You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:17.279 Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaronmankey. America was in 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.320 turmoil Britain's quest for territory. Britain's quest for territory and 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:27.120 control prompted young George Washington to enlist. His formal education 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.240 immediately afforded him the title of major, though he had 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.040 no experience and little training. The French had claimed both 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.479 Canada and the Great Lakes, Britain controlled colonies along the 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.159 eastern seaboard. Both fought for control over the Upper Ohio 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.840 River Valley. Still knew and without large forces, the colonists 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.080 didn't farewell in territorial conflicts. By the time Washington was 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.280 assigned to defend the area that now consists of Ohio, Pennsylvania, 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.920 West Virginia, and Kentucky, the French and British both stood 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.560 their ground, waiting for the other side attack first. On 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.840 May seventeen fifty four, Washington and a regiment of roughly 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.440 a hundred and fifteen men left their encampment. Their orders 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.000 were to arrive in the Ohio Valley and assist in 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.920 building a stronghold at transfourt and the men found the 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:19.040 only thing more miserable than traveling through the dense woods 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.720 under a pitch black sky was the unrelenting rain. But 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:27.319 soon they would encounter worse. A messenger arrived with bad news. 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.119 During their trip westward through the Appalachian Forest. The French 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.520 had captured the fort. They had hundreds of soldiers and 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.440 plenty of supplies. Washington and his troops were walking into 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.360 a trap. Washington was young, just twenty one years old, 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.160 and he had never been in combat. Determined to take 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.680 back the fort, he ordered his men to press on. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.480 When the men finally reached an open clearing, the exhausted 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.120 soldiers began setting up camp while Washington planned his attack. 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.480 They hadn't made camp long when Tana Grisson arrived. He 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.760 was the leader of the Ohio River Valley Hottnashawnee peoples 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.400 called the Iroquois by the French. During his fifty some 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.120 odd years, Tanna Grisson had become a skilled warrior, and 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.040 he was called the half King by the British. He 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.800 warned young Washington that the French already knew he was 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.880 there and planned to attack. The French and British weren't 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.799 the only ones in conflict over the area. Several other 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.120 Native American groups were also looking to take over the valley. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.720 Tanna Grisson offered a few men to lead the British 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.720 troops to a small glen near the mountain's crest, where 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.519 the French search party made camp. Washington sent seventy five 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.280 of the soldiers with the hon Na Shawnee, ordering them 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.960 to stake out the area and await for their instruction. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.760 Washington and the other forty soldiers hiked seven hundred feet 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.560 up Chestnut Mountain. The unrelenting rain made the trek across 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.799 the ridge treacherous. By the time they reached the crest 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.560 on they had lost seven men. Washington spotted the French 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.799 about the same time that they spotted him. The French 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:05.320 soldiers grabbed their muskets, but not fast enough. Within fifteen minutes, 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.880 their corpses lay scattered through the camp. The hot Nashawnee 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:12.560 warriors killed ten soldiers. One frenchman's head was placed on 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.519 a pole for Washington. The attack was a victory, but 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.240 until then, the British and the French had only been 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.800 involved in a Cold War. His attack started both what 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.240 we've come to call the French and Indian War. Here 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.840 and the Seven Years War in Europe. Washington became the 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:34.400 nation's first president and vowed to do better. Others followed 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:39.480 a different plan. I'm Louren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.080 Aaron Burr Senior and his wife led a charmed life. 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.680 Esther Edwards Burgh was the daughter of an acclaimed theologian. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.680 Aaron Burr Senior's place as a prominent Presbyterian minister and 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.760 president of the College of New Jersey later known as Princeton, 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.760 also placed the couple in high standing. They had a daughter, Sarah, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.840 and welcomed their son into the world on February sixth 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:16.680 of seventeen fifty six. Great things were expected of Aaron Jr. 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:21.880 Tragedy struck a year later when Aaron Sr. Died Prominent 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:27.000 or not, His death left the family scrambling financially. Esther's father, 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.880 Jonathan Edwards, took over as the college's president and moved 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.360 in with the family for economic support. A year later, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.760 Esther passed away. Jonathan died not long after. The children's guardian, 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.480 William Shippin, took them in for a while before sending 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.520 them to live with their uncle, Timothy Edwards in Philadelphia. 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.159 Edwards was a successful lawyer and gave young Aaron the 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.200 best tutors when he was old enough to enter school. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.480 That tutoring paid off. Aaron excelled in all his academics. 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:01.359 At thirteen, he applied to Princeton. The seventeen hundreds boys 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.440 attended college at an early age, though the most prodigious 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.600 students didn't start until fourteen or fifteen. Some speculated that 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.640 Aaron's family connections with the school had awarded him a spot, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.040 but he proved he could keep up with the best 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.960 in his class. College suited him. At sixteen, Airing graduated 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.560 with a Bachelor of Arts and continued his education in 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:26.159 theology before studying law. However, there were no law schools 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.840 in North America until the end of the seventeen hundreds. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:33.200 To become a lawyer, he had to serve as an apprentice. Eventually, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.479 Burr moved to Connecticut for his postgraduate studies. News of 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.839 the revolution interrupted those plans for young men. War presented 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.599 an opportunity if they survived. Burr saw the potential to 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.159 make connections that would fast track his career. He put 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.960 his studies on hold and enlisted in the Continental Army. 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.840 Starting as a volunteer under Benedict Arnold, he rose through 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:59.520 the ranks, becoming General Richard Montgomery's aide de camp, a 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.960 position n akin to a senior officer and assistant. The 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.039 troops marched to Quebec, though the invasion was not as 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.679 successful as anyone had hoped. During a battle on December 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.640 thirty one of seventeen seventy five, Montgomery was fatally shot 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.560 and died in Burr's arms. The snow prevented Burr from 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.479 dragging the general's body off the field for a proper burial. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:25.720 The skirmish also left Benedict Arnold injured. Without commanding officers, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.919 Burr found a new assignment with George Washington as his 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.960 aide de camp. The two didn't get along well, and 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.960 Burr was transferred to assist General Israel Puttnam. Under Putnam, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.159 Burr distinguished himself, becoming known for his leadership. He saved 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.120 his entire brigade from capture in New York City. George 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.680 Washington noted his bravery and promoted Burr to lieutenant colonel 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.640 in seventeen seventy seven, placing three hundred men under his command. 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:53.320 At the time, he was just twenty one years old, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.840 Burr and his men defended themselves against a British led 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.920 raid in New Jersey, and during the winter of seventeen 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.800 seventy seventeen seventy eight they protected a pass leading into 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.560 Valley Forge. All was not victorious, though BurrH and his 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.240 men suffered a defeat in the Battle of Monmouth in 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:16.320 June of seventeen seventy eight. Burr readily supported General Charles Lee, 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.080 which would end his military career. Lee had retreated from 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.160 the battle, drawing ire and a reprimand from Washington. Burr 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.800 cited health issues when he resigned from his command in 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.960 March of seventeen seventy nine. He retained his hero status 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.559 when he returned to studying law, though in seventeen two 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.880 Burr was admitted to the Albany, New York bar. The 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:43.360 year was busy and Burr made one more life change marriage. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.480 He had met Theodosia Bartow Prevost five years earlier in 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.480 September of seventeen seventy seven. During the war, Burr had 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.520 just led his men to victory against the British on 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.800 the outskirts of Hackensack, New Jersey. Theodosia was busy raising 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:01.200 her children while her husband, a British soldier, was stationed 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.200 in Jamaica. Burr rented a room for her until he 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.400 received orders to go to Valley Forge for the winter. 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.960 The following year, they met again and engaged in a 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.920 heated affair. When Burr left the military and returned to 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:18.120 his studies, Theodosia kept up correspondence with both Burr and 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:31.080 her husband. In Theodosia received a letter notifying her of 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.520 her husband's death. She was now free to marry Burr. 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.360 Their affair only became more scandalous when they announced plans 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:42.760 to marry. Burr was ten years younger than Theodosia. The 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.360 age difference didn't bother him, though his wife had experience 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.640 and was highly intelligent. They moved to Albany to start 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.400 Burr's legal career. As with everything he had done in life, 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.520 Burr excelled at his new profession. Along with his success, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.520 he earned substantial fees. He in Theodosia furnished their home 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.600 and style for the most fashionable clothes, and through lavish parties. 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.319 By seventeen eighty three, the couple moved to New York City, 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.800 where Burr became interested in politics. He was elected to 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.559 the New York Assembly that same year. By seventeen eighty nine, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.240 he became New York's Attorney General. He also met another 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.920 former soldier turned lawyer, Alexander Hamilton's, For a short time, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.319 they shared a law practice. Afterward, the two became adversaries 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.320 both in and out of court. Though they remained cordial 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.920 and professional, neither man liked the other. Then Burr won 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.720 a seat in the U. S. Senate from one Phillips Skylar, 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:46.280 pushing Hamilton's quiet dislike to open contempt. Skylar happened to 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:50.200 be Hamilton's father in law, and Hamilton's considered Burr's victory 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.400 an act of war. Even more irritating to Hamilton's was 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:59.160 Burr's habit of alternating between the Republican Democrats to the Federalists. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.840 Burr had long been a mediator between the parties and 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.080 found that changing sides benefited his career. Theodosia was proud 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.520 of her husband and worked as hard as he did. 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.280 She managed not only his law practice, but their affluent 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.640 home in New York City and a summer residence in 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.600 Westchester County where she could be closer to relatives. They 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:24.240 had four children together, Sadly, only one survived, a daughter. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.160 Burr insisted share her mother's name. He noted on his 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.080 daughter and ensured that she had an education equal to 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.360 any man. Young Theodosia could read and write by her 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.920 sixth birthday and remained a voracious reader throughout her youth, 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.920 and Burr asked his daughter's governess to help establish a 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.920 school that offered the same level of education to other girls. 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:49.920 In sevente the elder Theodosia died from stomach cancer. Lost 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.440 without the woman he considered his equal in all ways, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.200 Burr grieved deeply. Then father and daughter threw themselves into 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.680 their work and promoted their ideals. Aside from women's education, 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.200 Burr pushed to eliminate slavery and changed voting laws to 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.679 allow those without land the right to vote. He also 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.160 opened a bank that offered credit to the middle class, 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.280 not just society's elite. Burr also fought for the freedom 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.960 of the press, immigrants, and for non English descended citizens 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.040 to run for office. In eighteen hundred, he returned to 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:28.400 practicing law, taking on America's first murder trial. Perhaps surprisingly, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.800 he partnered with Hamilton on the case. Their client Levi 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.800 Weeks had been accused of killing one, Elma Sands. The 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.120 two had had a passionate relationship that raised a few eyebrows. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.360 To salvage their reputations, Levi told Alma's cousin that they 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.439 were eloping. On December twenty second, the two left town. 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:52.440 Elma's body was found on January second. The court room 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.920 was packed during the two day trial. Burr and Hamilton 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.720 destroyed Alma's reputation, and the jury took less than five 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.720 minute to return a not guilty verdict. Burr decided to 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.800 return to politics and run for president. Elections worked differently 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.160 in the early eighteen hundreds. Whoever received the most votes 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:14.640 became president. The candidate who received the second most votes 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.320 became vice president, even if the two were members of 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:23.199 different parties. Burr and Thomas Jefferson tied, leaving Congress to decide. 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.600 An informant told Jefferson that Burr intended to steal the presidency. 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.359 Though berb seemed content to become vice president, when Jefferson 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:37.000 took office, he gave Burr little authority or power. Hamilton's 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:41.079 reveled in Jefferson's distrust of Burr and happily recounted how 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.560 the vice president had once stolen a political office in 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.760 the Senate years before. In eighteen o four, Burr chose 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.319 to run for governor of New York, but Hamilton's slander 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.400 and rumor that Burr had run against Jefferson again for 0:12:54.440 --> 0:13:00.400 president caused Burr's popularity to fall. Burr was furious. He 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.960 had dedicated years to service and study, and, in his opinion, 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:08.200 Hamilton's pettiness had all but ended his political career. The 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.360 tension brewing between the two men had come to a 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:26.160 breaking point. The two adversaries exchanged angry letters. Burr accused 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.679 Hamiltons of slander. Hamilton's tried to defend himself against the accusations, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.439 though he refused to stop publishing articles about Burr's shortcomings. 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.200 Hamilton's insisted that Burr was both dangerous and opportunistic. He 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:43.000 adamantly proclaimed that ending Burr's career was his moral and 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.160 religious duty. Dueling is a way to resolve disagreements, was 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.439 falling out of favor and had become illegal. However, Burr 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.800 challenged Hamilton's, who readily accepted both men had been involved 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.200 in duels in the past. They settled on July eleven, 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.959 eighteen o four, are and met in the early hours 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.280 of the Common Dueling Grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey. There 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.720 are multiple accounts as to the events that took place, 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.360 and some my witnesses claimed that both men fired. Others 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.199 say that only one shot was fired that day. Hamilton's 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.840 dueling assistant said that as the two faced off, Hamilton's 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.720 cided that a duel was morally wrong after all, and 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.840 intentionally missed. It was a common dueling practice to fire 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.160 a shot into the ground or another location, preserving the 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.280 men's honor while ending the duel, But Burr's dueling assistant 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.080 said that Hamilton's simply missed, and that Burr returned fire. 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.400 Either way, the bullet penetrated Hamilton's stomach and lodged near 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:48.640 his spine. He died the following afternoon. Burr was charged 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.800 with murder. The charges didn't stick, though his political allies 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.920 pushed to have them all dropped. Burr's former title of 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.640 vice president offered him immunity from prosecution until his term 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.600 ended in eighteen o five. Fighting the charges took a toll, 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.640 though Burr's reputation was in tatters and the legal fight 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.840 had strained his finances, so Burr headed to the newly 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.520 acquired U. S. Territory from the Louisiana Purchase, where he 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.000 met with James Wilkerson, the U. S. Armies commander in chief, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.320 and the territories governor. Together, the men planned to take 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.000 over the land and turn it into their own personal 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.240 empire separate from the United States. As the army's commander, 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.480 Wilkerson agreed to provide the manpower needed to seize the 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.960 territory from the US and the indigenous peoples who actually 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.880 lived there. Burr wrote to and met with contacts for support. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.240 While he was still the Vice President, Burr secretly contacted 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:49.120 Anthony Mary, Britain's Minister to the US, and floated the 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.560 idea that he could help them conquer the US Western Territory, 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.200 but the British weren't interested in cooperating in this act 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.520 of treason. When Burr's term as Vice president ended in 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.080 eighteen five, he resumed visiting towns and cities to gain 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.200 endorsement for his plans, including Bayan from a former U. S. Senator. 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.600 One Herman Blenner Hassett, a wealthy lawyer and plantation owner, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:16.200 signed on becoming one of Burr's most trusted allies. Several 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.560 influential and prominent New Orleans business owners wanted to take 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.520 over Mexican Territory and add it to the Louisiana Territory. 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.720 They agreed to support Burr's plan. If they succeeded, Burr 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:32.360 would become the territories leader, perhaps emperor. But all his 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.040 travels and meetings hadn't gone unnoticed, and by the end 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.440 of eighteen o five, rumors of a revolution had spread 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.840 to the East coast. A Philadelphia newspaper speculated that Burr 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.920 and British allies planned to use military might to take 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:51.720 Mexican Territory. They weren't far from the truth. Bird dismissed 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.280 the rumors, though it wasn't long before he left for 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.680 Blenner Hassett's private island in the Ohio River, where he 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.040 and fellow co conspirators met in early eighteen o six. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.280 With the plan moving along just as expected, Burr wrote 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.600 to Wilkerson in August. When he received that letter in October, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:14.160 the commander reconsidered his part and backed out. The consequences 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.840 outweighed the rewards. A knowing Burr planned to go forward 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.960 with treason, Wilkerson made his own plan to save himself 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.640 from the fallout. Rumors of treason spread over the country 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.680 and Europe. Courts in Kentucky, where Burr had been actively 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.840 raised in support and supplies, charged Burr with treason three times, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:38.320 but he was acquitted in each instance. Then, on December nine, 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.920 the militia found supplies that backed up the rumors aboard 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.240 Burr's ships. By the time the militia descended on Blenner 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:49.159 Hassett's Island mansion, the remaining co conspirators had already fled. 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.159 After ransacking the home and not finding what or whom 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.639 they had come for, they left confident that the scheme 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.800 could still work. Burr arrived at Blenner Hassett's in late December. 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.000 They had planned for a massive army. Instead, only a 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.240 hundred men came. Undeterred, Bird led the men down river 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.480 to buy you Pierre. There, Bird learned that Wilkerson had 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:18.040 betrayed him, had written to Jefferson detailing Burr's plan. The 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.520 local paper had even printed the letter he had written 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.040 to Wilkerson. Though Burrd tried to flee, he was caught 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.480 in Mobile, Alabama and returned to Richmond to stand trial 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.800 for treason in eighteen o seven, but months later Burr 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.879 was acquitted and walked out of court a free man. 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.920 The verdict and Burr's actions and intentions are still discussed 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:54.399 among scholars today. On January of eighteen o seven, Jefferson 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.439 maintained that he believed Burr was guilty and announced that 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:01.919 opinion to Congress. Burr and Jefferson didn't get along, but 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:06.160 then Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshall were also at odds. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:11.040 Marshall's subpoena President Jefferson insisting he delivered documents that Burr 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.080 and his lawyers needed to prepare for the case. Jefferson's 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.520 refusal to acknowledge the subpoena and sending of only a 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:22.520 fraction of the requested documents hurt the prosecution worse. Witnesses 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.200 for the defense testified that Burr was at least a 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.960 hundred miles away from Glenner Hassett's mansion when troops first gathered. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.800 Marshall limited testimony to focus solely on the events on 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.280 the island, no other letters, meetings, or evidence that the 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:41.480 prosecution had was permitted. Treason was punishable by hanging, though 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.119 the evidence collected and the letter that Burr had written 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:48.080 to Wilkerson were damning. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall chose 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.920 to stick to a more specific definition of treason, as 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:55.040 stated in the Constitution. The clause reads, treason against the 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.320 United States shall consist only in levying war against them, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.400 or in adhering to their enemies giving them aid in comfort. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.840 No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.480 testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.760 on confession in open court. Marshall interpreted that, since no 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.480 two witnesses could attest the Burr was present when the 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.679 troops gathered, he had not declared war on the United 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:23.439 States and was innocent. Jefferson moved to have Marshall impeached. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.280 Burr's acquittal came at a cost, though his reputation followed 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.560 him and his political career was over. Several states brought 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:37.000 additional charges against him. Burr left the United States, claiming 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.800 that he feared for his life. While in Europe, he 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.200 unsuccessfully tried to persuade Britain and France to take part 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.320 in more plots to seize land in North America. In 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.399 eighteen twelve, another war with Britain seemed inevitable. Burr returned 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.720 to New York and resumed his legal career. Though he 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.960 found clients, he had become debt ridden. He lived a 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.600 solitary life for years until meeting the wealth best widow 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:05.959 in America. Burr courted and hastily married Eliza Bowen Jumal 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:11.360 in three Four months later, Jumal filed for divorce, claiming 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.960 adultery and that her husband had mismanaged and frivolously spent 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.600 much of her inheritance. Jumal hired the best lawyer from 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.719 a prominent family of lawyers. The young man was more 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.200 than happy to take her case, and he and Burr's 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.480 attorney battled out the divorce for nearly three years. Burr 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:33.119 died shortly after hearing the verdict on September eighteen thirty six, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.840 and though he never said it, that young lawyer had 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.320 to have felt some sense of justice in winning that 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.480 case against the man who had shot and killed his father, 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:49.679 Alexander Hamilton Sr. Many years before. There's more to the story. 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.520 Stick around after this brief sponsor break to hear all 0:21:52.560 --> 0:22:07.520 about it. Life for farmers is often hard, and conditions 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.000 in the seventeen eighties in western and central Massachusetts didn't 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:15.040 make it any easier. They lived in isolation and suffered 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.720 from the lack of assistance when their crops failed or 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:22.560 falling prices cut into their already meager profits. Jefferson's forward 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:26.320 facing picture of near utopia in the United States didn't 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.920 match reality. While other state governments passed pro debtor laws 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:35.639 that forgave debt in some instances, Massachusetts did not. Without 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.400 such protection, the government seized farmers land and threw them 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:44.160 into debtors prisons. Under the article's confederation, the central government's 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.119 power was limited. At the time of its writing, the 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.840 American colonists were in the midst of a war against 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.000 a country that they believed ruled unfairly than with tyranny, 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.480 so the documents creators ensured that the new central government 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:02.879 could not directly tax its citizens, but states could. A 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:08.120 Massachusetts raised property taxes to pay its creditors farmers, most 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:12.760 of them revolutionary veterans, had very little currency, and mostly 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:16.480 they bartered with other locals for goods and services, and 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.199 most of the veterans had been stiffed for their amount 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.760 of work and service during the war. Some weren't paid 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:26.160 at all. Unless they were wounded. They didn't get a pension. 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:29.800 The increase in taxes was more than they or their 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:34.160 farms could stand. In August of seventy six, a band 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.840 of farmers drafted a document detailing their grievances and sent it, 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:43.359 along with suggestions to Boston's legislature. The letter was promptly ignored. 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:48.879 In Northampton, Captain Joseph Hines took a different approach. He 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:52.840 led hundreds of farmers to the local court house in protest. 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:57.240 They blocked the doors, preventing judges from entering. Before long, 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:01.399 several hundred more people gathered in solid air. Judges and 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.879 Worcester met the same resistance. The judges called in the 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:08.879 militia to disband the rebels. To their surprise, many of 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.439 the soldiers joined in on the protest. Their new leaders 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:14.840 had employed the same method of government that they had 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:19.960 fought to escape. In Pelham, farmer Daniel Shay was fed up. 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:23.440 He had bravely fought at bunker Hill and others, and 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:25.760 now he couldn't afford the taxes on the land that 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:29.480 he had worked hard to buy. He joined the farmer's Rebellion. 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:35.560 Shea's reputation and bravery earned him respect from the other farmers. Initially, 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:39.320 he refused to lead them, but eventually agreed. He and 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.280 the others marched to the courthouse, beating drums and waiting 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:45.720 weapons until midnight. He also led a group of six 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:50.320 hundred to Springfield in September of seventeen. He wanted to 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:53.920 negotiate with General William Shephard to allow the protest and 0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:56.840 in return the group would allow the courts to stay open, 0:24:57.240 --> 0:24:59.399 But as it turned out, the court was still forced 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:03.280 to close due to the lack of willing jurors. While 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:07.040 there were other factions of the rebellion, Boston's elite believed 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:11.600 Daniel Shay had orchestrated and led the entire thing. Attentions 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:16.080 began to rise. Former artillery commander Henry Knox wrote to 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:20.240 George Washington with his concerns over the growing revolution. Samuel 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:22.360 Adams said that they should do what England had done 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:26.359 to rebels, execute them. Still, the farmers had allies in 0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:30.840 high places. Chief Justice William Whiting claimed that members of 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:33.399 the state legislature were building their wealth off of the 0:25:33.440 --> 0:25:38.879 impoverished farmers. Realizing the protesters would not stop the legislation 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:42.560 offered leniency to those struggling to stay afloat. They also 0:25:42.680 --> 0:25:46.800 offered rebels amnesty. There was a catch, though, the rebels 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:49.480 had to take an oath of loyalty. A few might 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:52.800 have known that a recently passed bill allowed sheriff's immunity 0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:56.080 if they happened to kill rebels, and called for stricter 0:25:56.119 --> 0:25:59.760 punishment for anyone arrested. When the dust settled, the courts 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:02.560 at at another bill ordering the death penalty for any 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:08.880 militiamen who joined forces with the rebel farmers men. In January, 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:14.200 Boston business owners funded Governor Bowden's private army. The army's 0:26:14.240 --> 0:26:17.680 mission was to end the rebellion. The governor called upon 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:20.000 the public to join the mission to end the treason 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:24.480 US protests. In response, Say and the other factions elected 0:26:24.480 --> 0:26:28.000 to raid Springfield's arsenal on September twenty five of that year. 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:32.479