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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm fair Downy Candice and I

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Speaker 1: did a podcast called Alexander Hamilton's versus Aaron Burr about

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Speaker 1: their faithful and fatal duels, So we won't talk too

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Speaker 1: much about that here, but the upshot is that Hamilton's

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Speaker 1: is killed and Vice President Burr was the one who

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Speaker 1: did it. He was charged with murder in New York

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Speaker 1: and New Jersey, but it never went to trial, and

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Speaker 1: he is the subject of our podcast today what happened

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Speaker 1: after that duel. So while his murder charges don't ever

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Speaker 1: go to trial, in March eighteen o five, he has

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Speaker 1: to leave the political sphere. He's just too contentious a

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Speaker 1: figure at this point, and his speech actually makes the

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Speaker 1: Senate cry. But his career is over. He's also in

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Speaker 1: debt and he doesn't have a whole lot of friends left.

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Speaker 1: What he needed was to start over, and what better

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Speaker 1: place for a new life than the West. So to

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Speaker 1: give this all a little context, Thomas Jefferson advocated a

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Speaker 1: policy of expansionism. When Napoleon gave up on French influence

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Speaker 1: in North America and offered the Louisiana territory for sale.

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Speaker 1: Jefferson was all over it. And what that meant was

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Speaker 1: that this huge uncharted space and all the people and

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Speaker 1: it weren't too sure about being part of the rest

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Speaker 1: of America. And there were a lot of people there already.

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Speaker 1: There were not only Indians, but Spain still has a

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Speaker 1: hold on a lot of the parts that touched the border,

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Speaker 1: so there are a lot of boundary disputes. Jefferson wanted

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Speaker 1: to buy Florida from Spain, and some people thought we

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Speaker 1: should just take Spain's land by force, including Mexico, but

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Speaker 1: of course not everyone was a fan of expansionism, and

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Speaker 1: there was talk of the people in the southwest of secession.

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Speaker 1: So we have an opening here, a potential opportunity for

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Speaker 1: somebody to take over and rule amidst all this chaos.

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Speaker 1: So Burr hatches a plan, and this plan may have

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Speaker 1: started even before his duel, but the basic idea was

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Speaker 1: that he wanted to wage a private war against Spanish

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Speaker 1: held territories, possibly also in New Orleans and Mexico, and

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Speaker 1: he would have a Southwestern empire that he could rule

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Speaker 1: this republic independent of the Eastern US. He'd be an emperor.

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Speaker 1: But to put this plan into action, he's got to

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Speaker 1: have help. So how about James Wilkinson, who is the

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Speaker 1: guy who makes a very sketchy appearance in our podcast

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Speaker 1: unmarrywether lewis not a good guy and implicated in Lewis's death,

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Speaker 1: and especially to have this guy is your number two

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Speaker 1: a very unfortunate beginning. So Burn new Wilkinson from the

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Speaker 1: Quebec campaign, and by this point he was the highest

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Speaker 1: ranking officer in the entire arm Me. So in this

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Speaker 1: respect he sounds like a pretty good guy to have

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Speaker 1: on your side, a good number two. He also shared

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Speaker 1: Burr's views on why it might be pretty great to

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Speaker 1: separate the East and the West, and he saw an

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Speaker 1: opportunity for himself. He could have a very good life

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Speaker 1: in Burr's empire as number two. But there was another

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Speaker 1: side to it. Wilkinson was a Spanish spy, so if

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Speaker 1: things didn't work out with Burr, he would have the

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Speaker 1: chance to turn him in to the US government and

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Speaker 1: also leak his plans to the Spanish, thus you know,

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Speaker 1: winning their goodwill. So it was a win win for Wilkinson.

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Speaker 1: So while he's pulling together his dream team. Here. We're

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Speaker 1: also contacts Andrew Jackson, who was very anti Spain, and

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Speaker 1: the politician Jonathan Dayton. And he also gets in touch

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Speaker 1: with the Minister to the US from Britain, Anthony Mary,

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Speaker 1: and proposes a deal of sorts that for ships and money,

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Speaker 1: he'd help them take the West. So he gives word

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Speaker 1: that his intention is to buy a million acres of

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Speaker 1: land in the Louisiana Territory, perhaps as a bit of

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Speaker 1: a cover for the mission he's about undertake, or perhaps

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Speaker 1: because he wanted a million acres of the Louisiana territory.

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Speaker 1: But he leaves in eighteen o five and begins his

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Speaker 1: campaign very subtly. He has letters of introduction to influential people,

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Speaker 1: he attends balls and banquets and starts winning people over

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Speaker 1: with his charisma before he starts hinting at what he's after,

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Speaker 1: what this mission is. And he also slowly begins recruiting

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Speaker 1: young men for his plan. Men were who were looking

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Speaker 1: to better themselves because of course, the West at this

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Speaker 1: time is so uncertain, they need to find their way,

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Speaker 1: so he lets them keep their independence and is very

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Speaker 1: quiet about what his plans are so even his followers

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Speaker 1: don't really know what he's up to, and he he

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Speaker 1: amasses hundreds of these young men who are interested in

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Speaker 1: his ideas, and he also befriends a rich Irish immigrant

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Speaker 1: named Harmon Blenner Hasta pretty good name, yeah, definitely a

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Speaker 1: good name. Blender house that gives them money and also

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Speaker 1: gets the Mexico Society on his side, which is a

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Speaker 1: pretty self explanatory organization. There they are a group of

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Speaker 1: people interested in accumulating Mexico. So as far as this

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Speaker 1: mission goes, Britain doesn't come through, and people have started

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Speaker 1: to get wind of what Burr is up to because

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Speaker 1: of course he's talking to so many people. He's not

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Speaker 1: exactly hiding what he's trying to do. Perhaps he thought

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Speaker 1: he would be successful and could gain enough support that

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't be an issue, but little things start appearing

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Speaker 1: in the press about what he's doing. Luckily for Burr,

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Speaker 1: Spain comes through in an unlikely way. Unlike Britain, they

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Speaker 1: step up their border conflicts with the US and this

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Speaker 1: means that Wilkinson, as commander of the army, would end

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Speaker 1: up in Louisiana and then he and Burr could conquer

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Speaker 1: Spanish territory in the name of the United States, but

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Speaker 1: then take it over. So it brings the number one

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Speaker 1: and the number two in this conspiracy together. So Burr's

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Speaker 1: plan begins in earnest in August eighteen o six, when

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Speaker 1: he and his men assembled at Blenner Hasset's Island in

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Speaker 1: the Ohio River, which is going to be their home base,

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Speaker 1: and his messenger says that seven thousand men will be

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Speaker 1: on the way. So at this point his intentions are

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Speaker 1: clearly not a secret. He's talked to so many people

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Speaker 1: and they in turn have communicated to higher ups. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: even the federal government is aware of what he's doing

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Speaker 1: because he's talked to so many influential politicians. So Jefferson

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Speaker 1: isn't entirely in the dark, and wilcomeson soon betrays Burr.

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Speaker 1: He hands over what's known as the Cipher Letter in

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Speaker 1: eighteen oh six to Jefferson and also alerts the Spanish

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Speaker 1: to what's going on in New Orleans. And the Cipher

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Speaker 1: Letter says, in part, I have obtained funds and have

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Speaker 1: actually commenced the enterprise. Things are starting for real. And

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Speaker 1: this is October eighteen sixty and in November eighteen sixty,

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Speaker 1: Jefferson tells the country that there's a conspiracy in the

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Speaker 1: works and that the conspirators should be caught. So he's

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Speaker 1: still not directly calling out Burr. He figures his name

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Speaker 1: is going to come up eventually on its own, and

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Speaker 1: blind item from page so has blind item from Jefferson.

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Speaker 1: In December, blennerhasse it's place is raided by a militia

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Speaker 1: and they also arrest a bunch of men and took

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Speaker 1: their boats and their guns. So when Burr finally comes

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Speaker 1: to meet his men, the force is greatly diminished, not

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Speaker 1: what he had been expecting at all. But he keeps going,

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Speaker 1: and he had you wouldn't not have the point to

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Speaker 1: turn back, for sure. He keeps going though. He heads

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Speaker 1: down the Mississippi, and he's planning to meet with Wilkinson

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Speaker 1: in New Orleans. But after that, who knows what he's

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Speaker 1: gonna do. But what he didn't know was that at

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Speaker 1: this point he was wanted for arrest. And when he

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Speaker 1: lands in the Bayou Pierre in Louisiana in January eighteen

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Speaker 1: o seven, he sees a newspaper and sees that his

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Speaker 1: cipher letter is printed in full in the paper and

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Speaker 1: that he's wanted, so he doesn't have any men. His

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Speaker 1: arrival in Louisiana isn't a surprise because of course Wilkinson

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Speaker 1: has told everyone well in the newspapers have learned anyone.

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Speaker 1: So he turns himself in, but then flees to Alabama.

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Speaker 1: On February nineteenth, eighteen o seven, he's arrested on the road,

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Speaker 1: depends Coola and taken to Fort Stoddard. But it's kind

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Speaker 1: of weird because after all, he is a former vice

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Speaker 1: president and a colonel, and it still seems like he's

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Speaker 1: working on his plan. He's he has not entirely given

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Speaker 1: up yet. Yeah, he's talking to locals trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out who hates the Spanish, and so the local officials

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Speaker 1: get a little concerned about this and decide let's send

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Speaker 1: him back to Washington. So on the way back to Washington,

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Speaker 1: he's treated really well despite being under armed guard. He's

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Speaker 1: allowed to keep Brandy with him and he keeps the

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Speaker 1: life and pistols. A bad idea who lets their prisoner

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Speaker 1: keep pistols, but they get taken away because he does

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Speaker 1: kind of try to escape in South Carolina, and when

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Speaker 1: he's caught again, he cries things are not looking good

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Speaker 1: for Burr, and the group gets a message from Jefferson

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Speaker 1: telling them to go to Richmond instead of Washington, so

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Speaker 1: they take him there. He arrived on March seven, and

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Speaker 1: in April he went on trial for treason and high misdemeanors.

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Speaker 1: And this is the trial of the century, as so

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Speaker 1: many trials are, of course, and they're always as we

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Speaker 1: know it earlier. They're always in the beginning of the century. Yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: it's never in the seventies or something where you're like

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Speaker 1: the trial of the century. Um. So Chief Justice John

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Speaker 1: Marshall calls it the most unpleasant case which has ever

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Speaker 1: been brought before a judge in this or perhaps any

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Speaker 1: other country which affected to be governed by laws. Another

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Speaker 1: really bold claim. But on the side of the defense

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Speaker 1: we have Edmund Randolph who is Washington Secretary of State,

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Speaker 1: and lawyer Brandy Bottle also known as Luther Martin, whose

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Speaker 1: strategy is to paint Jefferson as someone who is just

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Speaker 1: blinded by a personal vendetta against Aaron Burr. So it's

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Speaker 1: actually pretty effective too, because Jefferson had basically said there

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Speaker 1: was incontrovertible evidence against Burr and there's not. So when

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Speaker 1: you take little quotes like that and throw them in

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Speaker 1: front of a jury, it doesn't make Jefferson start to

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Speaker 1: look like a personal problem between two men. So the

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Speaker 1: public's appetite for this trial is insatiable, and the papers

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Speaker 1: blair headlines about it every day. But the trial is

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Speaker 1: really odd, understandably because so many of the people involved

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Speaker 1: are just playing liars or their double agents, and the

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Speaker 1: co conspirators stories don't match up, and even his followers

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Speaker 1: don't know what Burr's plans are, so it's nobody the

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Speaker 1: big part. Yeah, nobody has the same story. Well did

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Speaker 1: he even have a master plan or was he just

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Speaker 1: sort of, you know, flying by the seat of his pants.

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Speaker 1: We don't know because he never told anyone, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of his papers were lost to see along with

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Speaker 1: his daughter Theodosia in eighteen thirteen, so it's likely we'll

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Speaker 1: never know. And there wasn't much evidence either. You mentioned

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Speaker 1: this just a second ago, but it does come up

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Speaker 1: looking a little like a personal problem instead of this

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Speaker 1: grand treason case. So Burr's acquitted on September one, eighteen

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Speaker 1: o seven, and Marshall's own opinion on the case took

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Speaker 1: three hours to read, and he said that a treason

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Speaker 1: charge required two witnesses to an overt act of force

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Speaker 1: or violence against the government, which was a very strict definition,

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Speaker 1: a very strict reading of the definition of treason in

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Speaker 1: the Constitution, and the evidence simply wasn't there. So Burr

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Speaker 1: was off the hook, but he wasn't off the hook

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Speaker 1: with the American public. He was being burned in effigy.

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Speaker 1: Still not a popular guy, so he headed off to

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Speaker 1: Europe to become an ex pat, as people in trouble

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Speaker 1: often do, but his reputation was completely ruined even there.

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Speaker 1: He was kicked out of England and Napoleon wouldn't let

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Speaker 1: him into France, so he returned to the US in

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Speaker 1: eighteen twelve, and there's no respite for him even here.

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Speaker 1: My favorite quote is from an article by Erin Wellborn

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Speaker 1: for American Heritage. His name was besmirched by both Federalists

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Speaker 1: and Republicans, usually for its besmirching effects. Touche. There's one

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Speaker 1: career still open to Burr. He becomes a lawyer, and

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Speaker 1: he pretty much stays off the radar and dies at

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Speaker 1: eighty with no descendants. And as for Wilkinson, it was

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Speaker 1: during the War of eighteen twelve that people discovered that

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Speaker 1: he was actually a spy, but he was acquitted and

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Speaker 1: not punished too, so he can live on to how

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Speaker 1: sketchy roles in future podcasts. But the Aaron Burr conspiracy

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Speaker 1: so fascinates us. We've gotten so many requests for this

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Speaker 1: I can't even tell you because we know so little

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Speaker 1: about it. We don't even know what this conspiracy really is.

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Speaker 1: And there's the debate over whether what he did really

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Speaker 1: was treason or just in the spirit of American enterprise.

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Speaker 1: There's the question of whether he had this big plan

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Speaker 1: or was just sort of playing it by ear. And

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Speaker 1: we have the mystery of this man who's defined by

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Speaker 1: only two events in his life, this fatal duel with

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Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton and a controversial trial, and of course the

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Speaker 1: romantic notion that perhaps our answer lies in the chest

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Speaker 1: at the bottom of the ocean. So that about wraps

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Speaker 1: it up for Burr. But if you have any more

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Speaker 1: historical conspiracies you'd like us to investigate, you should email

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Speaker 1: them to us at History Podcasts at house stuff works

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Speaker 1: dot com, and we also take suggestions through Twitter at

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Speaker 1: mist in History and through our Facebook fan page, so

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Speaker 1: be sure to join those and as always, please check

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Speaker 1: out our homepage at www dot how stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit

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Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and be sure to check

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Speaker 1: out the Stuff you missed in History Class blog on

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Speaker 1: the how stuff works dot com homepage