Speaker 1: All right. You know, as long as our country has
Speaker 1: been around, there have been groups out there that wanted
Speaker 1: to secede from the United States. Are you surprised? Right now?
Speaker 1: There are at least a dozen states with active movements
Speaker 1: looking to detach their state from the US and form
Speaker 1: their own nation. But it almost happened, and the star
Speaker 1: of the story was a guy more famous for another
Speaker 1: political battle. I'm Patty Steele. Aaron Burr and his plan
Speaker 1: to start his own empire. Next on the backstory, The
Speaker 1: backstory is back. What do you know about Aaron Burr?
Speaker 1: You probably are familiar with his run in with founding
Speaker 1: father Alexander Hamilton. After some very public name calling, Burr,
Speaker 1: than the vice president under Thomas Jefferson, challenged Hamilton to
Speaker 1: a duel. Didn't end well for Hamilton, who died from
Speaker 1: his wounds a day later, and it didn't end particularly
Speaker 1: well for Burr, whose political career never recovered. But he
Speaker 1: had a play. He wanted to carve out his own
Speaker 1: empire in the West. Sounds like the plot of a
Speaker 1: Netflix drama, doesn't it. Well, it really happened. It's the
Speaker 1: story of how Burr went from political powerhouse to alleged trader,
Speaker 1: though they were never able to prove that in court. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's seventeen fifty six. Aaron Burr is born into a
Speaker 1: big deal New Jersey family. He's smart, charming, and ambitious.
Speaker 1: His political career takes off. He's a senator by the
Speaker 1: age of thirty five and vice president just ten years later.
Speaker 1: But then along came that pesky eighteen oh four murderous
Speaker 1: duel with Alexander Hamilton. His ego derailed his ambitions. So
Speaker 1: what came next? The Burr Conspiracy. He knew that after
Speaker 1: the duel his political career was toast. Hamilton's death made
Speaker 1: him a pariah in Washington, and even Jefferson, his President,
Speaker 1: turned his back on him. Burn needed a fresh start,
Speaker 1: and he set his so on something ambitious, even a
Speaker 1: little borderline delusional. Aaron Burr wanted to create his own
Speaker 1: empire in the American West. So what was the plan. Well,
Speaker 1: his vision involved carving out a new independent nation, maybe
Speaker 1: including parts of the Louisiana territory and even parts of Mexico.
Speaker 1: Insiders said he dreamed of being crowned emperor of this
Speaker 1: new land. But maybe he just wanted to break off
Speaker 1: a little chunk of the United States and rule it.
Speaker 1: It's a big dream and also wildly illegal. He had
Speaker 1: co conspirators too, General James Wilkinson was a master schemer
Speaker 1: with a talent for playing both sides, even working as
Speaker 1: a paid agent for Spain while serving in the US military.
Speaker 1: And Burr even chatted with Anthony Mary, the British Minister
Speaker 1: to the US, telling him that Britain could regain power
Speaker 1: in the Southwest by giving him arms and ammo for
Speaker 1: his plan. Even offer to several Louisiana from the Union
Speaker 1: if they gave him half a million bucks and put
Speaker 1: a British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. Mary told
Speaker 1: him the powers in London had zero interest in supporting
Speaker 1: an American secession. Finally, with the help of a very
Speaker 1: very rich Irish immigrant, Byrd did put together an army
Speaker 1: of settlers, adventurers, and disillusioned soldiers, promising them land and
Speaker 1: power in the new Empire. He tried to sell his
Speaker 1: plan as a way to defend American interests in the West,
Speaker 1: but rumors started swirling about what he was really up to.
Speaker 1: Stories were published that exposed his plans to build his
Speaker 1: empire in the West. It wasn't completely clear what he
Speaker 1: was trying to do. Was he planning to invade Spanish
Speaker 1: held territory for the US or plotting to break off
Speaker 1: that chunk of the country and declare independence. Word was.
Speaker 1: He met with a Spanish diplomat and told him his
Speaker 1: ultimate goal was to march on one Washington and take over.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for Burr, like the British, the Spanish didn't want
Speaker 1: to get involved in his grand plan. But then it
Speaker 1: turned out that General James Wilkinson thought the plot was doomed,
Speaker 1: and he flipped sides. He sent a letter to President
Speaker 1: Jefferson warning him about Burr's plot, while Jefferson thought the
Speaker 1: accusations were politically motivated. Charges were brought against Burr, although
Speaker 1: a grand jury refused to indicte But by the middle
Speaker 1: of eighteen oh six, Jefferson in his cabinet took a
Speaker 1: serious look and Burr's plan unraveled. Almost overnight. Wilkinson turned
Speaker 1: on him completely, sending Jefferson a heavily doctored letter between
Speaker 1: himself and Burr that outlined his plans but made Wilkinson
Speaker 1: look innocent. He was brought to trial in one of
Speaker 1: the most sensational events of the early eighteen hundreds. The
Speaker 1: prosecution had to prove that Burr had committed an overt
Speaker 1: act of treason. But here's the catch. His troops never
Speaker 1: carried any military action because they were caught before they
Speaker 1: were able to. During the trial, Burr was charming, eloquent,
Speaker 1: and completely confident in his ability to sway the jury.
Speaker 1: He'd been a Revolutionary War hero and an ex vice president,
Speaker 1: plus he had amazing lawyers. The government's case fell apart
Speaker 1: when the defense uncovered the doctoring of the most damning
Speaker 1: letter between Wilkinson and Burr. The defense painted Wilkinson as
Speaker 1: the real villain. He had rewritten the letter in his
Speaker 1: own handwriting that dummy, so Burr managed to deny having
Speaker 1: written it at all. The chief justice in the case
Speaker 1: had set a high bar for what constituted treason, insisting
Speaker 1: the prosecution had to prove an overt act of war
Speaker 1: against the US. Burr, again, hero of the Revolutionary War,
Speaker 1: was trusted over a guy who had doctored evidence. The
Speaker 1: jury found Burd not guilty, and he walked free, but
Speaker 1: his reputation was completely shattered. The trial was a media circus,
Speaker 1: like a modern day celebrity scandal, and he was done.
Speaker 1: After the trial, Burr's life took a nosedive. He fled
Speaker 1: to Europe, where he spent years trying to drum up
Speaker 1: support for many other schemes, even trying to convince Napoleon
Speaker 1: to help him invade Mexico, but no dice there. Eventually
Speaker 1: he came back to America at the age of seventy seven.
Speaker 1: He married a much younger, wealthy widow, but she divorced
Speaker 1: him after a few years because he started losing her
Speaker 1: money in bad land deals. He finally died in a
Speaker 1: boarding house on Staten Island at the age of eighty,
Speaker 1: never becoming the Emperor he dreamed of being. Aaron. Burr's
Speaker 1: ambition and ego brought him a lot of early success,
Speaker 1: but his inability to play by the rules torpedoed all
Speaker 1: of it. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for
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Speaker 1: to DM me if you have a story you'd like
Speaker 1: me to cover. On Facebook, of course it's Patty Steele
Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Speaker 1: Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
Speaker 1: know you needed to know.