Speaker 1: Hello, delicious friends, and welcome to Who Did What Now?
Speaker 1: The history podcast that is not your history class with
Speaker 1: me your host Katie Charlwood, History Arlotte and reader of books.
Speaker 1: And this week, this week has been wild. I had
Speaker 1: a million followers on Facebook, which wild, absolutely wild. Now
Speaker 1: that mean said, if talk Talk at Talk Talk, if
Speaker 1: TikTok and Instagram could catch up, that would be great,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Anyway, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know of the pleasure pain theory. It's the idea
Speaker 1: that for every good thing that happens, something bad has
Speaker 1: to have happened. So like it's evening out the scales.
Speaker 1: So I had a million followers, and that very same day,
Speaker 1: as I was enjoying my little mcdade's cola with some
Speaker 1: brazil nut toffee, tooth broke a molar. So word to
Speaker 1: the wise, make sure you get your check up with
Speaker 1: your dentists, you know, especially the ne're divergent people who
Speaker 1: keep on forgetting to schedule that appointment. So yeah, oh,
Speaker 1: if you haven't voted on tour tour stuff, because more
Speaker 1: tour in yours come in soon. If you haven't voted
Speaker 1: on that, gut on that, let me come and see you.
Speaker 1: And yes, if you do notice that I sound a
Speaker 1: bit different, yet it is because the it's the tooth.
Speaker 1: It's the tooth. I'm on a cancelation list with my dentist.
Speaker 1: It's all good, but it's making it hard to speak.
Speaker 1: And I've noticed that I've been like buggrowing up a
Speaker 1: bunch of words. But everything shall be well. But yes,
Speaker 1: back to the tour, Back to the tour. And so
Speaker 1: I love you, lovely denizens of the Internet, but of
Speaker 1: the Internet of the world, I should say, but when
Speaker 1: you're recommending places to me, please stop trying to send
Speaker 1: me to like three thousand seat theaters and you know,
Speaker 1: seventeen hundred seat concert halls. Like I love you and
Speaker 1: I know that you enjoy this, but I feel like
Speaker 1: we should maybe lower our expectations ever so slightly, Like
Speaker 1: I'm trying to focus on independent and minority owned, especially
Speaker 1: like if I can't get that, I'll move on to
Speaker 1: the next one. Just because listen, everything that's going on
Speaker 1: over in the States right now, I'm specifically talking about
Speaker 1: the US, right you have lost so much tourism in
Speaker 1: so much everything in the places that are going to
Speaker 1: be hit worst first is always going to be the small, independent,
Speaker 1: local places, and so that's where I'm trying to trying
Speaker 1: to push push my business there. Now here's the thing
Speaker 1: about Europe. In Europe, everybody's happy to to tell you
Speaker 1: about a room above a pub that's available. It's great,
Speaker 1: you know what, And I love that about here. But yes,
Speaker 1: I hope to get this tool likefully locked in and
Speaker 1: sorted with y'all. But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking,
Speaker 1: quite your jibbel jabbel in fact me, in fact you,
Speaker 1: I will. But first we've got to get our source on.
Speaker 1: Our sources are Hamilton the musical I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. It's a bop, but I'm absolutely jogging. So
Speaker 1: our sources are due Alexander Hamilton. Aaron Burr and the
Speaker 1: Future of America by Thomas Fleming. Aaron Burr, a biography
Speaker 1: by Nathan Shackner. The Burr Conspiracy Uncovering the story of
Speaker 1: an early American crisis by James E. Lewis Fallen Founder,
Speaker 1: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Eisenberg. The Life
Speaker 1: and Times of Aaron Burr by James Patten, And the
Speaker 1: Heartbreak of Aaron Burr by H. W. Brands ils diding
Speaker 1: comfortably good. Then let's begin. Now, some of you may
Speaker 1: know Aaron Burr, Sir. Sir. I actually really wanted to
Speaker 1: do this is a live show, specifically because I just
Speaker 1: thought it'd be really funny that when eavily talked about
Speaker 1: Aaron Burr, I would get the audience to respond with, Sir,
Speaker 1: Aaron Burr, Sir. Listen, listen. I amuse myself if nobody else.
Speaker 1: So some of you may know Aaron Burr, Sir as
Speaker 1: the man who lost a popularity contest to Thomas Jefferson
Speaker 1: and who shot a guy. But of course there is
Speaker 1: much more to this story. Aaron Burr was born on
Speaker 1: the sixth of February seventeen fifty six in Newark, New Jersey,
Speaker 1: to Esther Edwards, a diarist, and Aaron Burr Senior, a
Speaker 1: Presbyterian minister and the second president of the College of
Speaker 1: New Jersey, which some of you may know now as
Speaker 1: Princeton University. Estherel's father was a theologian, so they were
Speaker 1: all educated stock and they weren't like poor, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And this is all in the province
Speaker 1: of New Jersey in the thirteen colonies. Aaron Burr Junior,
Speaker 1: as he was known then, was the second child born
Speaker 1: to the couple. His older sister, Sarah was known as
Speaker 1: Sally because that's what they did back then. That is
Speaker 1: a very very common way to make a nick name.
Speaker 1: Let's have the exact same amount of syllables, like it's
Speaker 1: fine and letters. Yeah, that's that's how nicknames work. Now.
Speaker 1: It wasn't all sunshine and roses for baby Barr, because
Speaker 1: when he was but a year old, his father, Aaron Barsenia,
Speaker 1: passed away from quote exhaustion and fever. His maternal grandfather,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Edwards, came to take over his father's role in
Speaker 1: the college, but then he had complications from his smallpox
Speaker 1: vaccine and died in March seven fifty eight. Then, sixteen
Speaker 1: days later, Esther Burr's mother dies from a short illness
Speaker 1: with fever and delirium. So he's two and he's lost
Speaker 1: already his father, his mother, and his maternal grandfather. So
Speaker 1: enter Sarah Edwards, Burr's maternal grandmother, and she decides she's
Speaker 1: coming down to collect the children and to take them
Speaker 1: back to Philadelphia with her, and so she does. She
Speaker 1: collects them, they head back to Philly and they are
Speaker 1: there for a few months and then Sarah dies in
Speaker 1: October of dysentery. I mean, what is this the Oregon Trail,
Speaker 1: All roads lad to dysentery. So Sally and Aaron were
Speaker 1: already orphaned, but now it's like double orphaned at the
Speaker 1: ages of like three and two, respectively. But they are
Speaker 1: not Oliver twisted out to an orphanage. Luckily, they go
Speaker 1: under the care of the Ship family in Philadelphia. Now Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: to slip into some context, was at this point the
Speaker 1: nation's capital, and William Shipping was a trustee for the
Speaker 1: College of New Jersey, so he knew the family, but
Speaker 1: the Bird children were only under his care until the
Speaker 1: following year. And that's when their uncle, Timothy Edwards came
Speaker 1: of age and was able to legally claim guardianship of them.
Speaker 1: He was twenty one years old. Now he just starts
Speaker 1: collecting children like jubejubs, right, So he has these two kids, right,
Speaker 1: and then he has like other kids of siblings who
Speaker 1: have died, and he just has just this cohort of children,
Speaker 1: which is great for a twenty one year old who
Speaker 1: knows absolutely nothing about children. Now he does ensure that
Speaker 1: Aaron is well educated. He brings in tuors and the
Speaker 1: goal would be that, you know, until he gets educated
Speaker 1: enough to go to Princeton or what would become Princeton
Speaker 1: and sh time basically to get him educated until he
Speaker 1: reaches the college itself. But Arn Barr doesn't have have
Speaker 1: the best of childhoods, and you're thinking, we know that
Speaker 1: on a yeah, give it time. So basically, when he's four,
Speaker 1: he's like so done with his uncle's just beatings more
Speaker 1: than anything else, because this is a time of corporal punishment,
Speaker 1: and so he runs away and he runs away, and
Speaker 1: then he's brought back, okay, and then he does this
Speaker 1: again when he's like eight years old. He runs away
Speaker 1: and then he is like he's going to go work
Speaker 1: on a ship. At eight or like ten, he's still
Speaker 1: really really young. They're like, you're gonna go work on
Speaker 1: a ship and be away and escape like his very strict,
Speaker 1: very tense uncle. Now each time he's brought back, and
Speaker 1: when he's eleven, right, Barr jumps the gun a little bit,
Speaker 1: mainly because I think he is to get the heck
Speaker 1: at a dodge, right, and he tries to attend the
Speaker 1: College of New Jersey at just eleven years old, and
Speaker 1: luckily the college is like, no, you are an actual child.
Speaker 1: Please go eat your greens and get some maturity and
Speaker 1: then come back. So he decides that as soon as
Speaker 1: he is a teenager, he's going to reapply because that's
Speaker 1: how that works, and you know what, the college agrees.
Speaker 1: So at thirteen, he attends the college as a sophomore,
Speaker 1: and he joined the American Whig Society and the Cleosophic Society,
Speaker 1: the college's literally and debating societies. This will put him
Speaker 1: in good stead later. So in seventeen seventy two, at
Speaker 1: the age of sixteen, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree,
Speaker 1: but continued studying theology because of course he did for
Speaker 1: another year and he was training with Joseph Bellamy, a Presbyterian.
Speaker 1: But after two years of this he wasn't really feeling
Speaker 1: it anymore and decided he was going to go do
Speaker 1: law instead. So the college like education back then, it
Speaker 1: isn't the way that we would have it now, So
Speaker 1: like in the America. Now in the US you would
Speaker 1: have sort of elementary school, middle school, and then high
Speaker 1: school and then you'd have your college after that. Now
Speaker 1: over in Europe, we tend to do it differently. You
Speaker 1: have your sort of primary school, which is like your
Speaker 1: elementary level, and then you're there until you're like twelve thirteen,
Speaker 1: and then you move on to secondary school, which is
Speaker 1: your high school, and then of course you have your
Speaker 1: college and university after that. Now that is that and
Speaker 1: so yeah, he goes to this. So the schooling would
Speaker 1: have been different back then. You just kind of went
Speaker 1: younger and he just kind of stayed anyway, It's fine,
Speaker 1: but anyway, he has decided he's going to do law.
Speaker 1: He gets the heck at Dodge and moves to Connecticut,
Speaker 1: where he attends Litchfield Law School to study law with
Speaker 1: his brother in law, Tapping Reeves, husband to his sister Sally. Okay,
Speaker 1: so here's the thing, Aaron Burr. It feels like he
Speaker 1: doesn't have a direction of his own in my personal opinion, right,
Speaker 1: because he's wantn't you go into like theology. He wants
Speaker 1: to study religion because like dad's a minister, you know,
Speaker 1: grandfather's theology. You know, Timothy probably nothing to do with
Speaker 1: Jimithay by the way, Timothy's probably into some of that
Speaker 1: stuff too, And so he's doing that and then he's like,
Speaker 1: hmm no. And then his brother in law happens to
Speaker 1: be doing law and he's like, you know what, that's
Speaker 1: what I want to do. So he's found out a
Speaker 1: law school has tapping reeves, and Burr just keeps to
Speaker 1: be following in someone else's footsteps. But again that is
Speaker 1: just my opinion. By seventeen seventy five, news reached Lichfield
Speaker 1: of the clashes with British troops in the Battle of
Speaker 1: Lexington and Concord. And this these battles which launched the
Speaker 1: American Revolutionary War or the War of Independence, depending on
Speaker 1: how you want to read that. Now, so Barr he
Speaker 1: puts his studies on hold so he could enlist in
Speaker 1: the Continental Army, and Bud decides he's going to be
Speaker 1: a soldier. So Burr joined the Continental Army, serving under
Speaker 1: his body Benedict Arnold, who is like the British of
Speaker 1: the American War of Independence, but with remarkably less stabbing somehow.
Speaker 1: Now I say he joins the Continental Army, they basically
Speaker 1: take on volunteers. You are volunteering in the army. Now, Barr,
Speaker 1: he does well in the army, might even go as
Speaker 1: far as to say that he thrives. So bur he
Speaker 1: volunteers himself for Colonel Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec. Like
Speaker 1: Quebec is not the place it is now. It was
Speaker 1: basically of wilderness, some might say now and it is
Speaker 1: a three hundred to three hundred and fifty mile trek
Speaker 1: all in all right from where he's at, and the
Speaker 1: goal is to invade Canada. It's well, sorry, it's a
Speaker 1: wild concept to me. But anyway, this expedition, you're going
Speaker 1: to be surprised. It does not go well, right in general,
Speaker 1: I mean it goes great for Burr, just not for him.
Speaker 1: So basically he's been told that he has to deliver
Speaker 1: a message to General Montgomery. Now this General Richard Montgomery,
Speaker 1: he had taken Montreal, so he is the big dog
Speaker 1: and Burr has to pass a message on to him.
Speaker 1: And so he has to get behind me lines and
Speaker 1: he does so by Hannah Montana ing it and dressing
Speaker 1: like a priest, right, so a Catholic priest. So he's
Speaker 1: a Presbyterian lawyer or a Presbyterian law student, I should say,
Speaker 1: disguised as a Catholic priest. And like it's it's oh
Speaker 1: like He's like, yeah, super into Mary. Love love the Mary,
Speaker 1: and the statues beg into the statues, lover statues. They
Speaker 1: don't wait and Mary, I now say three hail Mary's
Speaker 1: and an active condrision and you'll be fine. As he
Speaker 1: passes through. Now because of his education, right, because he
Speaker 1: is upbringing and his education and all that, like, he
Speaker 1: actually does quite well here. He finds a pathway into
Speaker 1: the inner circle. And Montgomery as well, is so impressed
Speaker 1: with Bart that he promotes him to captain and as
Speaker 1: his aide de camp. So he's basically like his like
Speaker 1: we assistant is he buddy? It's like we best guy,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So the Battle of Quebec,
Speaker 1: one thing leads to another and it's an absolute shit show, right,
Speaker 1: and Montgomery dies now burr. He does try to recover
Speaker 1: the body, but he's under enemy fire. He's in the
Speaker 1: snow and also Montgomery's dead weight. And I mean that
Speaker 1: literally because between that and the harsh weather conditions and
Speaker 1: you know, the bullets, it just wasn't happening. But it
Speaker 1: is noted that he tried to do it. It is
Speaker 1: a Wheebler aware he tried to do it. And so
Speaker 1: this right, right, this established him as a hero here,
Speaker 1: and this is also where like he gets a bit
Speaker 1: disillusioned because after what he went through, after going through
Speaker 1: all of this and this again absolute shit show of
Speaker 1: trying to invade Quebec, right, he just comes to this
Speaker 1: conclusion that Congress is basically inept at military planning, and
Speaker 1: he writes, he writes that they are either drunk or crazy.
Speaker 1: And also like he's serving under Benedict Arnold and he
Speaker 1: is just sick of his shit, and so he wants
Speaker 1: out of that. And people are saying good things about Burr,
Speaker 1: and his relative and bestie Matthias Ogden, gets him a
Speaker 1: gig with George Washington in Manhattan as a member of
Speaker 1: his staff now, but isn't happy with this position. Doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be a member of this because he's like
Speaker 1: surrounded by lots of like backstabbing and back talking all
Speaker 1: this other bollocks and he's not there for that, and
Speaker 1: so he quits again to be a soldier. And so
Speaker 1: John Hancock he recommends Burt to General Israel Putnam, and
Speaker 1: Putnam takes a shining to birth and makes him his
Speaker 1: aid de camp and so he's actually gained in this
Speaker 1: bit he's like, he's showing that he's you know, trustworthy,
Speaker 1: he's responsible, he's reasonable at least, you know, to these generals.
Speaker 1: And that's going all fine and well. And then the
Speaker 1: British land in Manhattan. British forces landed in Manhattan, and
Speaker 1: so the American forces, the Continental Army, they have to retreat.
Speaker 1: Part of that is because Washington isn't great at the
Speaker 1: old decision making, Like it's almost as if he's so
Speaker 1: worried about rushing into your decision that he's becoming too hesitant.
Speaker 1: And this may shock you all, but Aaron Barr pretty
Speaker 1: good at running away. Effectively. He designs the best route
Speaker 1: out of the city and he guides about what five
Speaker 1: thousand people to safety, during which he also salvages artillery,
Speaker 1: which is needed to because you can't win a war
Speaker 1: without buckets and buckets and bullets. Now, from this, he
Speaker 1: gets promoted to a lieutenant colonel and he's in charge
Speaker 1: of three hundred men. Basically, when you become a lieutenant colonel,
Speaker 1: they just kind of give you three hundred men. Well,
Speaker 1: I say that that's not true, that's wrong. No, there's
Speaker 1: another dude. He's in charge. But he's like, never there,
Speaker 1: and so bar just ends up in charge of this
Speaker 1: three hundred group of men, and he's strict, but he's smart,
Speaker 1: you know. He's fighting off for his raids into New Jersey.
Speaker 1: There's this horrible winter in seventeen seventy seven, and he
Speaker 1: defends the pass at Valley Forge. Now he fights in
Speaker 1: the Battle of Monmouth, but it is a shit show.
Speaker 1: He's defeating. His horse gets shot out from under him
Speaker 1: and he gets severe heat stroke. He tries to get
Speaker 1: medical leave, like without pay, but Washington denies him and
Speaker 1: instead he is sent to West Point to oversee disciplinary measures,
Speaker 1: and he despises it, like he is not about this whatsoever,
Speaker 1: because like the troops are being disrespectful because they called
Speaker 1: him like Aaron Burr's son or like young Burr because
Speaker 1: he was so young, and they're just like, where's the
Speaker 1: actual general look at this young villa, so like he's
Speaker 1: young and all the generals that could have boosted his
Speaker 1: military career. But basically now either out of the army
Speaker 1: are dead, right, And so he says that the officers
Speaker 1: are getting soldiers to steal food from civilians, and so
Speaker 1: he makes his men return the ship that they stole,
Speaker 1: which fairly good right now. One of my favorite stories.
Speaker 1: I can't remember if it's like here or before. I
Speaker 1: didn't write it down in this in this one, but
Speaker 1: basically there's this plot to assassinate Burr, and so in
Speaker 1: order to like avoid this, well, he actually gets wind
Speaker 1: of this, right and so he actually gets you know,
Speaker 1: his soldiers to like remove like the bullets from the guns.
Speaker 1: Like He's just like, no, we're not doing this, and
Speaker 1: so he prevents himself from being shot. It was weird,
Speaker 1: but anyway, so on top of this, Burr is a
Speaker 1: ladies man, but he's also very aware that the wrong
Speaker 1: word from him could ruin a reputation, so he keeps
Speaker 1: stumb So this is actually very clever because I mean,
Speaker 1: he could just be very respectful or I say respectful,
Speaker 1: or he could be you know, knowing that ladies talk.
Speaker 1: And if he's known for you know, ruining one woman,
Speaker 1: he could ruin another. In what's that that's not good
Speaker 1: on his end, you know? So in like seventeen seventy
Speaker 1: seven seventy eight, he meets Theodosia Bartow Provost at her home.
Speaker 1: Now he meets her at her home because her home
Speaker 1: is being used as Washington's headquarters now Theodosia. She is
Speaker 1: married to a British officer, and she's also ten years
Speaker 1: by senior. She's thirty two, he's twenty two. Theodosia has
Speaker 1: five kids with her enemy husband, who is presumably out
Speaker 1: fighting somewhere now. She's actually pretty cool and she's not
Speaker 1: seen as a looker pusse. She's got a facial scar,
Speaker 1: which everyone feels the need to point out, but she's
Speaker 1: bright and witty, and her and Barr they got on
Speaker 1: like a house on fire. Now they start off as
Speaker 1: friends because reasonably that's how that works, and he's visiting
Speaker 1: a lot, and eventually they're pretty open about being together,
Speaker 1: and no one cares about her husband because they're like,
Speaker 1: fuck him. He's British. I mean, listen, he's a Swiss
Speaker 1: born British officer, but he made his choice. So they're
Speaker 1: very openly together. So it's like, here's my boyfriend, Aaron Barr,
Speaker 1: and people are very aware those two are together, and
Speaker 1: yet reputation unscathed. So I say unscathed. Burr's health isn't
Speaker 1: great after the heat stroke and the probable PTSD from
Speaker 1: all of the war trauma, so he resigns from the
Speaker 1: arm and decides to go back into the law thing.
Speaker 1: So he's studying up, he's getting to grips with the
Speaker 1: law again. And then Theodosia's husband dies of yellow fever
Speaker 1: in Jamaica in seventeen eighty one, so she, for propriety's sake,
Speaker 1: has to go through at least some official mourning before
Speaker 1: she can remarry. And also she wants him to actually
Speaker 1: have a profession so they can wed, which is fair
Speaker 1: because she's like, I must wait till I'm more sensible.
Speaker 1: There's always the possibility that, like, even though she didn't
Speaker 1: really care for her husband much, that she was still
Speaker 1: grieving in some kind of way, because grief is weird
Speaker 1: and it's not linear, it's kind of wobbly, So her
Speaker 1: reading some time seems really reasonable. Also, she would have
Speaker 1: to go through some official mourning, but like mourning is
Speaker 1: supposed to last like a long time, supposed to be
Speaker 1: like a year, sometimes six months, sometimes you know, half mourning.
Speaker 1: But she can go through like a little bit of
Speaker 1: it because you know, he husband was British and she's
Speaker 1: American now, so Hussa. So he decides to give himself
Speaker 1: wearefresher on the law and ends up passing the bar
Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty two, after which Aaron Barr and Theodosia
Speaker 1: get married. Their daughter, also called Theodosia, is born the
Speaker 1: following year, the only child of the couple to survive
Speaker 1: into adulthood. So he makes sure that Theodosia Junior gets
Speaker 1: a good education like that of a boy. Also, he's
Speaker 1: really good to his step kids, like they all really
Speaker 1: like him, and he seems to be a pretty good
Speaker 1: like dad father figure in all. And his law practice
Speaker 1: really takes off and everything is turning up Millhouse. Then
Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty four and seventeen eighty five he's a
Speaker 1: li to the State Assembly, which he wasn't that fond
Speaker 1: of doing. Then in seventeen eighty nine he's appointed attorney General.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because like he's really progressive for the time.
Speaker 1: He's for women having the vote. He's wanting to free
Speaker 1: all black enslaved people in New York, which progressive, But
Speaker 1: on the flip side of that coin, he did also
Speaker 1: own enslaved people. How he educated he made sure they
Speaker 1: were educated too, but also though still enslaved, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, so he's been toiling away, and by seventeen
Speaker 1: ninety one, he's got a pretty successful political campaign against
Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton's father in law, Philip Skyler. Going right, Hamilton
Speaker 1: takes this as a personal insult, right, and that's because
Speaker 1: you know, bar takes a seat. So they've been beefing
Speaker 1: for a while, because Hamilton lost to him in court
Speaker 1: a bunch, and also because Hamilton is a federalist and
Speaker 1: Bar is kind of more into democracy as a whole.
Speaker 1: There's there's a whole thing between the two of them.
Speaker 1: And as much as the musical might want to make
Speaker 1: you think that Alexander Hamilton is in any way progressive,
Speaker 1: he's like terrible person. You know what I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to do like a three part series. I think if
Speaker 1: I'm ever gonna have to do Alexander Hamilton, like the
Speaker 1: Reynolds pamphlet alone, is going to take up time. But anyway,
Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety four, Theodosia passes away from cancer. Now
Speaker 1: there are some dispute as to whether this is stomach
Speaker 1: or uterine cancer, but she dies. In seventeen ninety six,
Speaker 1: Bar runs for president and loses. It's the Adams administration
Speaker 1: and when it rains, it polls like bad things coming through.
Speaker 1: So he loses the election. He doesn't get re elected
Speaker 1: to the Senate, and he loses to Phillip Skuyla. So
Speaker 1: by eighteen hundred he's running again. Like initially, the parties
Speaker 1: are like, let's run his teams. So on the same
Speaker 1: ticket you've got. You know, Adams is running with Charles
Speaker 1: Coatsworth in their Federalists, and then you've got Thomas Jefferson,
Speaker 1: who's running with Aaron Burr as the Democratic Republicans. Now
Speaker 1: there's no popular vote. State legislators appoint electors and so
Speaker 1: they make the vote. So Jefferson and Bath sweep most
Speaker 1: of the South and Adams is doing well in like
Speaker 1: the northeast. Basically, the Federalists didn't want to tie, and
Speaker 1: so they got Rhode Island to vote for John Jay
Speaker 1: to give Adams a lead vot over Coatsworth, so that
Speaker 1: basically the plan was Adams would be the president and
Speaker 1: then Charles Coatsworth would be the vice president. I forgot
Speaker 1: the word for vice president there. I was like second man.
Speaker 1: He's the president and he's the second man. So John
Speaker 1: Adams and Charles Coltsworth so Now with the Democratic Republicans,
Speaker 1: they just voted for like burn Jefferson, so they had
Speaker 1: the same number of electrical votes. Electoral votes, not electrical votes,
Speaker 1: that's a different thing. And so the House of Representatives
Speaker 1: had the tie. Now bum maintained that he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to challenge Jefferson, and the House was Federalists, So you've
Speaker 1: got a federalist House of Representatives and Hamilton, a federalist legit,
Speaker 1: disliked Burr, so he helped push the vote in Jefferson's direction. Now,
Speaker 1: what used to happen is whether I came in second
Speaker 1: became vice president, although that did get changed in eighteen
Speaker 1: oh four. So Burr is marginalized by Jefferson. So like
Speaker 1: once they're in in play, he's just like sidelined because
Speaker 1: Jefferson thinks Burr was being underhand and wanted to steal
Speaker 1: the presidency for him. So but I was like, well,
Speaker 1: if I'm offer to do other things, I'm going to
Speaker 1: keep myself busy. And he goes and runs the Senate.
Speaker 1: Now there's this whole thing with the impeachment of a
Speaker 1: Supreme Court judge, a Federalist who was a bit shitty,
Speaker 1: and so we had to go on trial before the Senate,
Speaker 1: and Jefferson wanted him out, and like he goes to
Speaker 1: Barr and he's like, I want him out, and Burr's like,
Speaker 1: I hear you. Now. This is how not be clear
Speaker 1: and concise can let people think different things. So when
Speaker 1: someone says I hear you, you might think I agree
Speaker 1: with you, okay, But what Barr was saying was I
Speaker 1: understand what you mean. Not the same thing. Now, Barr
Speaker 1: is an impartial and rigorous like he's just what was it?
Speaker 1: He is like sharp and grueling, but he is so
Speaker 1: impartial about it that Judge Chase gets off scot free
Speaker 1: because that isn't like completely one hundred percent enough evidence.
Speaker 1: And obviously Jefferson is pissed because he told him he
Speaker 1: wanted this arsehole out. Found a reason get rid of them,
Speaker 1: you know. So we're at the point now where the
Speaker 1: parties don't like them, the President doesn't like them, and
Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton is talking shit about them in the papers.
Speaker 1: Now they're taking pot shots back and forth like Barr, Hamilton, Jefferson,
Speaker 1: Like all this stuff is going on the papers and
Speaker 1: people are they'll just they'll just post and whatever they want, right,
Speaker 1: like like just because they could, there was no one
Speaker 1: to stop them, right, Like you could defame someone didn't
Speaker 1: mean a damn thing. So in eighteen hundred, Burn publishes
Speaker 1: the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esquire President
Speaker 1: of the United States. Now this is not positive sort
Speaker 1: of positive piece of writing, and also wasn't written by
Speaker 1: Aaron b It was written by one Alexander Hamilton. Burd
Speaker 1: just happened to buy it and publish it. Purchase, publish, Boom.
Speaker 1: Now this was incredibly embarrassing for Hamilton, and this pisses
Speaker 1: him off to no end. So when in eighteen oh four,
Speaker 1: Burt is running for the New York governor, right, and
Speaker 1: he has burned some bridges on the way. He's running
Speaker 1: as an independent as well, and this is freaking Hamilton out.
Speaker 1: So he tries to convince all of the Federalists to
Speaker 1: not support Burr in any way, and so this ruins
Speaker 1: his whole thing. Also, sideber, I've had so few side
Speaker 1: bars this episode. It's not even a sidebarks. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about something that happened. So doctor Charles Cooper, he's having
Speaker 1: like this dinner party in eighteen oh four, and Hamilton's
Speaker 1: there and he is openly talking shit about Burr, and
Speaker 1: so doctor Cooper ends up writing a letter to Phillip Skuyler,
Speaker 1: Hamilton's father in law, about some of the awful things
Speaker 1: he said. And he's basically talking about just grotuisteously, gratuitously
Speaker 1: horrible things about Aaron Burr. And this letter gets published
Speaker 1: and it's humiliating for Aaron Burr Sir. So he writes
Speaker 1: to Hamilton demanding satisfaction. Yes, like the song. So they're
Speaker 1: going back and forth, politely trash talking one another, and
Speaker 1: this leads to Burg going fuck this for a game
Speaker 1: of soldiers and challenges Hamilton to a duel for honor
Speaker 1: and also because he's sick of the shit. But dueling
Speaker 1: is like a legal great area and now so like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it kind of can happen, but it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: maybe so y like for the record as well, Aaron
Speaker 1: Burr is still vice president right now. Right, So they
Speaker 1: traveled to New Jersey because apparently you're allowed to duel
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. So then not now, I'm fairly certain
Speaker 1: handbags at dawn, so off basically daddled and they met
Speaker 1: inwe Hawken on July eleventh, eighteen oh four, true to form.
Speaker 1: Burt arrives early with William van ness as a second,
Speaker 1: who is a New York federal judge in New York
Speaker 1: City Federal judge. Hamilton arrives thirty minutes late with Nate Pendleton,
Speaker 1: a Georgia District Court judge and a war veteran. So
Speaker 1: how a duel would work, right, was the first person
Speaker 1: to draw blood would be like, do you yield, sir?
Speaker 1: And then you yield, You'd be like, I yield, right,
Speaker 1: and sort of honor would be restored. Everything would be
Speaker 1: even dout. You've you've done your stuff right now. Which, uh,
Speaker 1: here's the thing though, guns are notoriously known for, you know,
Speaker 1: causing death. So they did bring a doctor just in case, right,
Speaker 1: So they brought a doctor for their duel, which they
Speaker 1: intended to not be to the death, but just to
Speaker 1: be for the naming. So Hamilton had preemptively told friends
Speaker 1: that he was going to deliberately shoot wide and miss bar,
Speaker 1: which honestly stupid idea in a duel. And who's to
Speaker 1: say if that was really his intention or if that
Speaker 1: was going to be some kind of plausible deniability, right,
Speaker 1: they do you know, the many steps and he shoots
Speaker 1: Hamilton right in the abdomen. It's like above his hip.
Speaker 1: It's it's a bad one. It's not a good place
Speaker 1: to be shot, you know, in the abdomen. And he
Speaker 1: knows he's not gonna make it. Like Hamilton is aware
Speaker 1: that he is gonna die, right, so he's like, get
Speaker 1: me home. So he is taking back to Manhattan and
Speaker 1: dies thirty one hours later on the twelfth of July
Speaker 1: eighteen oh four. So birthought that an honorable due would
Speaker 1: help his reputation, but instead everyone is like he's a murderer,
Speaker 1: and authorities issue and arrest warrant. But weirdly, no one
Speaker 1: wants to arrest the vice president, so that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: and he heads with in eighteen oh five. After leaving
Speaker 1: the presidency in eighteen oh five, Aaron Bach headed west,
Speaker 1: traveling through the Frontier and down the Ohio River before
Speaker 1: eventually reaching the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Now. When he's there,
Speaker 1: he leased around forty thousand acres of land from the
Speaker 1: Spanish government. Now and he began gathering support for some
Speaker 1: kind of grand Western settlement. Now exactly what he wanted
Speaker 1: to do with it hooms toss it. One of the
Speaker 1: most important people were brought into his plans was General
Speaker 1: James Wilkinson, so he was commander of the US Army
Speaker 1: at New Orleans and governor of Louisiana Territory. He also
Speaker 1: had the support of Harman Blenner Hassett, who offered up
Speaker 1: his I have an island in the Ohio River as
Speaker 1: a place where bar could train and equip his followers. Now,
Speaker 1: bus seems to have been betting on a war happening
Speaker 1: between the US and Spain, and if that happened, he
Speaker 1: could potentially use that Kelsta has advantage. So he begins
Speaker 1: assembling small expeditions. Right, He's got one of around eighty men,
Speaker 1: and they were carrying not much really, little more than
Speaker 1: like hunting weapons. They didn't have a stockpile of military
Speaker 1: equipment like and we know this because like the Ohio
Speaker 1: militia like eventually seized. Blair has its island and there
Speaker 1: like wasn't like a stockpile of any shit there. Now,
Speaker 1: bar claimed that his plan was simply to settle the
Speaker 1: land with a large group of armed farmers, and if
Speaker 1: war broke out, they would have a force capable of
Speaker 1: defending themselves and you know, perhaps taking some territory in
Speaker 1: their process. It is like why not? But right, so
Speaker 1: he's like, this is what it was like, no harm novel,
Speaker 1: because what if you go to work. I'm just keeping
Speaker 1: myself safe and keeping these farmers safe and stuff. Now
Speaker 1: there is another theory, and that is the Iron bar
Speaker 1: Sir may have been planning to invade Spanish controlled Mexico
Speaker 1: and establish an independent government there. There's hint to this, right,
Speaker 1: not conclusive evidence, but those hints. But it's talked about
Speaker 1: enough that I need to tell you about it, right,
Speaker 1: So he and Wilkinson, Like, there's hints that he and
Speaker 1: Wilkinson discussed encouraging the Western States and territories to secede
Speaker 1: from the United States and with them joining with them
Speaker 1: in Mexico to create a new empire modeled on Napoleon's France.
Speaker 1: So the idea is that Burr had gone from disgrest
Speaker 1: former vice president to maybe plotting his own little empire. Right.
Speaker 1: But if that's the case, like his big ally was
Speaker 1: incredibly untrustworthy. If that's the case, cause James Wilkinson was
Speaker 1: secretly being paid by Spain and after almost getting into
Speaker 1: a wee skirmish with Spanish forces in that Coadish, wilkins
Speaker 1: In decided the safest way to protect himself was to
Speaker 1: betray bart and so he snitched to both Spanish forces
Speaker 1: or Spanish you know his Spanish contacts and President Thomas
Speaker 1: Jefferson about bars plans, the plans that are totally burs
Speaker 1: and no one else's. So Jefferson always quick off the Mark,
Speaker 1: issued an order for Burr's arrest and publicly branded him
Speaker 1: a traitor before he even got indicted. Like, so An Burr,
Speaker 1: do you know how he finds out about the warrant?
Speaker 1: He's reading a newspaper in New Orleans or New Orleans
Speaker 1: Territory in eighteen oh seven, So now he found out
Speaker 1: in January, and he tries to keep ahead of the authorities,
Speaker 1: like trying to make his way toward Spanish Florida. But
Speaker 1: he gets intercepted in Mississippi Territory in like what is
Speaker 1: now Alabama on February nineteenth, eighteen oh seven. He's arrested
Speaker 1: and held at Fort stort on charges of treason. And
Speaker 1: then there's more, because of course there is. Aaron Barr
Speaker 1: had been secretly corresponding with both the British and Spanish
Speaker 1: ministers in Washington, trying to secure money and conceal what
Speaker 1: may actually have been his ultimate goal, helping Mexico overthrow
Speaker 1: Spanish rule in the Southwest. Now, exactly what Bart was
Speaker 1: planning to do is still mucky, right, if he really
Speaker 1: was planning to establish his own dynasty and what would
Speaker 1: become Mexican territory, it wasn't really the massive crime that
Speaker 1: Jefferson portrayed it as, because, like under the Neutrality Act
Speaker 1: of seventeen ninety four, launching a private military expedition against
Speaker 1: a country at peace where the United States was a crime, yes,
Speaker 1: but at the time it was a misdemeanor. However, Jefferson
Speaker 1: wanted baucharge something much more serious, treason, which maintains that
Speaker 1: Aaron buzz increasingly bizarre Western adventure was about to become
Speaker 1: one of the most sensational political trials in early American history.
Speaker 1: His case ends up before Chief Justice John Marshall, who
Speaker 1: was sitting as a federal circuit judge in Virginia. Now,
Speaker 1: at the time, circuit courts, not the Supreme Court, had
Speaker 1: the power to hear treason trials, and Marshall was about
Speaker 1: to make things very awkward for the government because he
Speaker 1: rules that under the Constitution, treason required an actual act
Speaker 1: of war against the United States. Now, Iron Burme have
Speaker 1: been scheming, plotting and being told suspecial, but the government
Speaker 1: couldn't actually prove that he had committed an act of treason,
Speaker 1: and so Chief Justice John Marshall acquitted him. So the
Speaker 1: trial itself had become embarrassing for the prosecution because one
Speaker 1: of the government's key pieces of evidence was a letter
Speaker 1: supposedly written by Burr, and it was produced by his
Speaker 1: ally slash enemy, his frenemy, if you will, General James Wilkinson.
Speaker 1: The issue of this letter, you may be wondering, is that,
Speaker 1: as it turned out, the letter wasn't actually in Buzz's handwriting,
Speaker 1: it was in Wilkinson's. James Wilkinson admitted that he had
Speaker 1: copied the original because he claimed to have conveniently lost it.
Speaker 1: My what a crazy random happenstance. Shockingly enough, the jury
Speaker 1: was not impressed with this, and Wilkinson becomes the laughing
Speaker 1: stock of the courtroom. It's so Chief Justice John Marshall
Speaker 1: like he he sticks firmly to this right. Article three
Speaker 1: requires that treason either be confessed in open court or
Speaker 1: proved by an overt act witness by two people, and
Speaker 1: no witnesses could place Bar committing an act of treason.
Speaker 1: So yeah, September first, eighteen oh seven, the jury found
Speaker 1: him not guilty, but the government was not done yet.
Speaker 1: He was immediately tried on a lesser misdemeanor child but
Speaker 1: once again he was acquitted. Right, this case became like
Speaker 1: a defining test of the separation of the Powells in
Speaker 1: young United States. Right, Like President Jefferson was personally convinced
Speaker 1: that Aaron Barr, Sir. Was guilty and used every ounce
Speaker 1: of political influence he could to secure a conviction. However,
Speaker 1: the judge refused to bend to presidential pressure. Now, whatever
Speaker 1: he thought of Bob personally, him's to say, but the
Speaker 1: evidence didn't meet the constitutional standard. And like even now
Speaker 1: historians are like it, you know, they're they're log aheads,
Speaker 1: like figuring out what Bob was actually planning to do.
Speaker 1: Now where whether Burr was like a fantasist or an
Speaker 1: opportunist or some kind of aspiring emperor, him's to say.
Speaker 1: And he works free. But again reputation buckered up his
Speaker 1: political career over and also he's spent so much money
Speaker 1: as reputations in ruins, as creditors are closing in, and
Speaker 1: so Burr leaves the United States in eighteen o eight
Speaker 1: and spends the next four years in self imposed exile
Speaker 1: across Europe, mainly living in London, but he travels through Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France.
Speaker 1: He even tried to revive his dream of conquering Mexico,
Speaker 1: seeking financial backing, but like nobody was interested. Napoleon wouldn't
Speaker 1: even agree to meet him right, and eventually Burr had
Speaker 1: little choice but to return home. Back in New York
Speaker 1: in eighteen twelve. Burr resumes practicing law quietly, sometimes using
Speaker 1: his mother's maiden name Edwards to dodge creditals, but he
Speaker 1: never returns to national politics. In eighteen thirty three, at
Speaker 1: the age of seventy seven, he married one of the
Speaker 1: wealthiest women in New York, Elizabeth Brown Jumel. It looked
Speaker 1: briefly that his fortunes may have finally turned around. They
Speaker 1: had not. Within a year, Barr had managed to flutter
Speaker 1: away much of her wealth, and Elizabeth filed for divorce,
Speaker 1: accusing him of adultery, and the marriage collapsed almost as
Speaker 1: quickly as it began, and like he's in a seventies
Speaker 1: like Barr, sir, where are you at? Like also adultery,
Speaker 1: he's seventy seven? Who is chased? Who who is he
Speaker 1: committing adultery with? Who wants a seventy seven year old
Speaker 1: man in the eighteen hundreds? Like old men are weird now,
Speaker 1: Like we all know everyone looked really old like in
Speaker 1: the past. So like what he's what no? What no? Anyway,
Speaker 1: after suffering two strokes, as in he had a stroke
Speaker 1: and then he had another stroke, he's not you know,
Speaker 1: get your head at the gutter. After suffering two strokes,
Speaker 1: Aaron Barr died in a boarding house in Port Richmond
Speaker 1: in Staten Island. He died on the fourteenth of September
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six, at eighty years old, and in a
Speaker 1: final piece of just amazing timing, it was the very
Speaker 1: same day his divorce from Elizabeth was officially finalized. He
Speaker 1: was also like hugely in debt, spent month of his
Speaker 1: later life like struggling financially, and the boarding house where
Speaker 1: he died ended up being renamed to Saint James Hotel.
Speaker 1: Burr was buried in Princeton, New Jersey near the grave
Speaker 1: of his father, And so ended the life of Aaron Barr,
Speaker 1: a former vice president, political schema alleged tretor possible would
Speaker 1: be emperor and the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in
Speaker 1: a duel, and so ends the story of Aaron Burr, sir.
Speaker 1: So that's the story of Aaron Burr, sir. And like, listen,
Speaker 1: as someone, you're gonna be well annoyed, gonna be like
Speaker 1: she did the Aaron Burr sir. Like, if you didn't
Speaker 1: do it along with me, that's your fault. You have
Speaker 1: no whimsy, Okay. So I wanted to do this because
Speaker 1: it's gonna get it's gonna get dark, because we're talking
Speaker 1: about World War two. And actually I'm probably gonna say
Speaker 1: this at the beginning of the next episode, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to say it now at the end. So if
Speaker 1: you've stayed this far, wonderful. I made a Nazi concentration
Speaker 1: camp series last year and this year, like literally today,
Speaker 1: it got one of my episodes got removed, the one
Speaker 1: on Operation Lanehad, which is the final solution, right, and
Speaker 1: it was removed for quote glorifying like hate things. And
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa, whoa whoa, whoa. I'm literally providing
Speaker 1: factual information about a horrible thing that happened, and I
Speaker 1: stay clearly that it's terrible what is going on? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's removed and I can't challenge it through meta.
Speaker 1: I can challenge it in court, which is the which
Speaker 1: is wild. I mean, I can't believe, like that's my
Speaker 1: solution to this. And it's like I can't challenge it
Speaker 1: in any way on on it, and it's like, what
Speaker 1: is going on here? Because it's like, oh, between computers
Speaker 1: and people. I'm like, great, let me talk to the
Speaker 1: people please. But anyway, that's actually made it very concerning
Speaker 1: for me regarding the next month. Is it meant to
Speaker 1: be all about World War two? And I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm going to be able to talk about it
Speaker 1: without stuff being removed, So that is concerning to me.
Speaker 1: So I'll definitely be posting more on Patreon and more
Speaker 1: on YouTube, just because that might be my only option.
Speaker 1: But anyway, let's get back to less terrible things. And
Speaker 1: it's recommendation time for watching Widows B. Now that was
Speaker 1: a swell show. It's like it's kind of like a
Speaker 1: supernatural Jaws, but from the mayor's perspective. Right, it'll make
Speaker 1: sense when you watch it right. For listening, I'm currently
Speaker 1: quite into Royal Swindle and for reading Thou Savage Women
Speaker 1: by Blessing Adams. So enjoy, listen, and I shall see
Speaker 1: you next time. Adios au revoir of Buidozer, my friends,
Speaker 1: Babo