WEBVTT - Vice President Aaron Burr and the Burr Conspiracy 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:05.320 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:14.760 partnership with I Heart Radio. We the jury say that 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.680 Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under this 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:22.080 indictment by any evidence submitted to us. We therefore find 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:26.239 him not guilty of treason. Welcome to Criminalia and the 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.800 first episode of our new season, The Treasonists. I'm Maria 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:34.480 Tremarqui and I'm Holly Fry. Aaron Burr was the third 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.960 Vice President of the United States, but is probably more 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.839 famous for his involvement in two of the most sensational 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.600 events of his day. On the morning of July eighteen 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.120 o four, when he was forty eight years old and 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.960 vice President of the United States, Burr fatally shot Alexander 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.320 Hamilton's with a fifty six caliber dueling pistol in a 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:00.920 duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton's as a founding father 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:06.440 of the United States, a lawyer, scholar, economist, soldier, congressman, 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.360 and he was the first U S Secretary of the Treasury. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.880 Three years after that life defining event, Burr was accused 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.000 and acquitted of treason against the United States. So what 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.600 exactly does that mean? When a vice president, or actually 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.280 any United States citizen for that matter, is accused of treason. 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:30.720 There are a few things will need to be clear 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.520 about as we kick this season off with an American revolutionist. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:40.320 It's just a little bit of vocabulary. Actually, espionage, sedition, insurrection, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:45.959 and treason. So espionage is an act of spying or 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:51.480 using spies for obtaining secret information. Several people generally thought 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.480 of as traders in the United States were actually tried 0:01:54.960 --> 0:02:00.400 for espionage. For instance, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg you June 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:04.320 nineteen fifty three, the Rosenbergs were executed for conspiracy to 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:09.280 commit espionage under the US Espionage Act of nineteen seventeen 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.320 in a plot to sell American atomic secrets to the 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.000 Soviet Union. They were the first U S citizens to 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.960 receive the death penalty in an espionage trial. Sedition refers 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.520 to conspiring with others to incite rebellion against lawful authority. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.880 Insurrection involves actual acts of organized effort that may or 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.560 may not include violence against the state or its officers. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.920 Sedition and insurrection are distinct from treason, which is a 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.520 violation of a citizen's allegiance to their country by betrayal 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.440 or by aiding the country's enemies. There is a treason 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.240 clause written into the United States Constitution, and it's the 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.480 only crime specifically defined within that document. It's found an 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.560 Article three, section three, and it defines treason against the 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:02.120 United States and its punishments. Treason against the United States, 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.800 it says, shall consist only in levying war against them, 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.600 or in adhering to their enemies giving them aid and comfort. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.360 No person shall be convicted of treason unless the testimony 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.320 of two witnesses to the same overt act or on 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:23.239 confession in open court. Entitle eighteen, United States Code, Section one, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.600 and that's according to federal law. Today's traders quote, shall 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.480 suffer death or shall be imprisoned not less than five years, 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.320 and find under this title, but not less than ten 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.520 thousand dollars, and shall be incapable of holding any office 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.960 under the United States. Okay, now that that is all 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.400 cleared up, It is the specific wording in the definition 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:51.200 of treason in the Constitution that ultimately one Burr has acquittal. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.080 We're going to get into that. It's a little bit early, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:55.880 but we're going to take a break for a word 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:57.880 from our sponsors. So we can keep the story of 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.600 Aaron Burr's life altogether. When we return, we'll get to 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.880 know who Aaron Burgh was before he decided to levy 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:21.800 war against the United States allegedly. Welcome back to criminallya 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.080 Aaron Burr didn't get along with a lot of his peers, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.400 at least that's certainly how it seems. But it sounds 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:34.520 like he was a great lawyer. Let's run through his accomplishments. 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.480 So Aaron Burr is actually Aaron Burg Jr. And he 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.720 was born on February six, seventeen fifty six, in Newark, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.640 New Jersey. He was the son of Aaron Burr Sr. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.640 And Esther Edwards, a prominent New Jersey family. Burrow was 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.360 just two years old and his sister four when their 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.039 parents died, and the two were raised by a wealthy uncle, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:58.000 their mother's brother. At the age of sixteen, Aaron graduated 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.440 from the College of New Jersey, which to a we 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:05.000 know as Princeton University. He continued his education, studying law 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.880 at Litchfield Law School in Connecticut. He put his studies 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.559 on hold and volunteered to fight in the American Revolutionary War, 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.839 where he served with distinction under General Benedict Donald and 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:21.320 rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.320 seventeen seventy nine, citing ill hell, and then Burr went 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.240 back to the law. In seventeen eighty two, he was 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.760 admitted to the New York State Bar, and he opened 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.159 what quickly became a bustling law practice in New York 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:40.799 City soon thereafter Benedictdonald. Of course he studied under of course, 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.320 he served under Benedict Donald, and like Benedictdonald, and like 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.320 George Washington, didn't get along. And then like Burn Washington 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.000 get along. I'm like this all it's like complete circle here, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.080 Like she's all out enough. Yeah, the same people like 0:05:55.120 --> 0:06:00.920 each other, which is generally what happens. So Burr was busy. 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.520 He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.560 seventeen eighty four and served one term. In seventeen eighty nine, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.800 he was appointed New York Attorney General by Governor George Clinton, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:15.080 a role he served in until seventeen. He was elected 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.960 to the United States Senate that same year, beating General 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.440 Philip Schuyler. This is notable because Skyler happened to not 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.799 only be the incumbent, but he was also the father 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:30.640 in law of Alexander Hamilton's. Hamilton's and Burr were definitely 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.840 not friends, but they certainly knew each other. Most stories 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:38.480 of the two's relationship are not flattering for either party. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.680 Hamilton and Burr differed over a lot of things, but 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:48.040 definitely politics. Hamilton's was a Federalist, while Burr was politically 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:52.240 affiliated with the Democratic Republican Party, the party that opposed 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:57.839 the centralizing policies of Hamilton's. Burr's win over Skylar fuel 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.560 that long standing rivalry. Burr had hoped to secure the 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:07.520 vice presidency in seventeen but he was not elected. The 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.560 following year, he failed to win re election to the Senate. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.400 He lost to Skylar, and he blamed that loss on 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:18.480 Hamilton's for ruining his reputation. In the election of eighteen hundred, 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.360 he was on the presidential ticket with Thomas Jefferson. Each 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.720 man received the same number of electoral votes, a tie 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.800 in the electoral college. Under the electoral college procedures at 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.440 that time, the electors cast their votes for both candidates 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.440 without specifically indicating who should be president and who should 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.880 be vice president. It wasn't until eighteen o four, when 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.160 the twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted, 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:48.840 requiring electors to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.520 so that vote went to the House of Representatives to 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.880 decide the outcome, where it was determined that Jefferson would 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.680 be president with Burr as his vice president. Whether or 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:01.800 not it had any influence, and there's no way to 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:06.720 be sure, but it was foe Alexander Hamilton's who lobbied 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:11.960 Congress towards choosing President Jefferson. Jefferson did not trust Burr, 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:14.800 and since the election, he had believed that Burr had 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.040 engaged in secret meetings and dealings in an effort to 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:23.200 secure the presidency for himself. He, meaning Jefferson and other 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.840 party leaders often marginalized the vice president in his role 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.720 Because of that belief, secret dealings or no secret dealings. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.680 Jefferson would continue to be a misery in Burr's life, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.720 and we could pretty safely say vice versa. They were 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.280 swift political enemies. But it was a dinner party that 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.000 ultimately sparked the infamous Burr Hamilton's duel. Nearing the end 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.240 of his term as vice president, Burr ran for the 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.560 governorship of New York in February of eighteen o four, 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.440 a New York Republican doctor, Charles D. Cooper, attended a 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:00.239 dinner at which Alexander Hamilton's spoke at length and strongly 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.920 against Burr. He had done that many times, but here's 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:09.160 the problem with this particular instance. Cooper then wrote a 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.239 letter to Philip Schuyler in which he described how Hamilton's 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:16.160 had insulted Aaron Burr, one of the New York gubernatorial candidates, 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:20.400 at a private dinner. That letter was also published in 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:24.840 the newspaper The Albany Register. So did Hamilton's intend for 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.440 the things he said to be relayed in a published letter. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.200 Maybe maybe not. But it wasn't the first time Hamilton's 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.040 had spoken about Burr in the press. It was once 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.720 printed in a New York newspaper that Hamilton's quote looked 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.840 upon Burr to be a dangerous man and one who 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.440 ought not to be trusted with the reigns of government. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.679 The letter hindered Burr's bid for New York governorship, or 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.040 at least Burr felt that way, and he lost by 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.240 a large margin to Morgan Lewis. It was when he 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.400 confronted Hamilton's about his slanderous words that Burr challenged his 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.960 longtime rival to a duel. Duels at this point were 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.760 illegal in both New York and New Jersey, but the 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.840 penalties were way less severe in New Jersey, so they 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.880 chose we Hawket. We Hawke in New Jersey is just 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.640 over the Hudson River from New York City. Today, the 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.920 Lincoln Tunnel, which is just about a mile and a 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:20.240 half long, connects we hawk In with midtown Manhattan. There 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.439 are conflicting accounts about what exactly happened during this duel, 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:28.520 but the facts remained these. Each man fired one shot, 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:33.600 Burr was left unhurt, and Hamilton's fatally wounded. Died the 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.319 next day. While Burr was indicted for murder in both 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.400 the states of New York and New Jersey. He returned 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.720 to Washington, d C. And resumed his VP duties presiding 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:48.080 over the Senate. He finished his vice presidency safe from prosecution, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:53.080 and the indictments in this case never reached trial. First, 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.880 political achievements are largely overshadowed by his duel with Hamilton's. 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.480 Many things really about for his life seemed to be 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:07.960 overshadowed by that event, except maybe the treason In late 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.720 November of eighteen o six, President Jefferson issued a proclamation 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.160 stating that a traitorous conspiracy had been uncovered, so he 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:21.240 didn't mention any names at that time. He called on quote, 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.760 all persons whatsoever engaged or concerned in the same, to 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.360 cease all further proceedings therein, as they will answer the 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:34.319 contrary at their peril. In response, the House of Representatives 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:40.120 requested that Jefferson present evidence to support his claims. Instead. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.920 On January eighteen o seven, Jefferson pronounced Burr as guilty 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.520 of treason, this time naming names, and he stated that 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.760 Aaron Burr was a traitor whose quote guilt is placed 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.839 beyond all question. Jefferson's public declaration of Burr's guilt before 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.839 there had even been an arrest or indictment, was of 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.960 course controversial. In response, former President John Adams, for instance, 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.199 wrote that even if Burr's quote guilt is as clear 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.760 as the noonday sun, the first magistrate ought not to 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.440 have pronounced it so before a jury had tried him. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.720 Here's how it began. After his rival's death and the 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.600 end of his vice presidency. First interest lay with the 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.640 country's newly acquired territory and the land around the United 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.520 States too, orders were disputed, and the land was perceived 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.720 as being unsettled, though that ignored indigenous populations already living there. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.400 He believed, with a small but well armed military, he 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.440 could take territory for himself, but burn knew he couldn't 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.760 go it alone and brought in General James Wilkinson of 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.079 the United States Army. Wilkinson and Burr had been friends 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.239 since serving in the Revolutionary War. Burr had also convinced 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.520 President Jefferson to name his buddy as governor of the 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.560 new Northern Louisiana. A few months after or his vice 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:05.559 presidency ended, Burr traveled west on a reconnaissance mission of sorts, 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.440 you could call it, along with a visit to Wilkinson. Together, 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.040 expecting or at least hoping war to break out between 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.240 the United States and Spain over boundary disputes, Wilkinson and 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.319 Burr planned an invasion of Mexico, which was part of 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.599 the Spanish Empire, in order to establish their own independent 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:29.600 government there. They may the record is inconclusive on this part. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.520 They may have also discussed a plan to incite a 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.520 secessionist movement in the West planning for that group to 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.280 join Mexico. It's also been speculated that the plan could 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.839 have been to provoke war with Spain to create an 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:48.520 independent Mexico, or to perhaps separate the trans Alleghany region 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.640 from the United States, or maybe just simply to see 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.520 there was a fortune to be made. Burt did try 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.400 to raise a small army on the American frontier, and 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.360 by the time he returned to washing To d C 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.560 that November, he had numerous supporters, including former U. S 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.320 Senator Jonathan Dayton and members of the Mexico Society, which 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.319 was a group of New Orleans businessmen who favored annexation 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:16.120 of Mexican land in the West. Burr assumed Wilkinson would 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.200 be able to both control the land and a military force. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.480 In August of eighteen o four, Burr contacted Britain's Minister 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.280 to the United States, a man named Anthony Mary. He 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.840 offered to help Britain take a piece of western territory 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.880 from the United States. In return, Burr wanted money, and 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.440 he wanted a force to carry out this conquest. Mary 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:42.040 was immediately in touch with his contacts in Britain, detailing 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.920 that Burr had offered to quote, lend his assistant to 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.920 His Majesty's government in any manner in which they may 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.000 think fit to employ him, particularly in endeavoring to effect 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.120 a separation of the western part of the United States 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.400 from that which lies between the Atlantic and the Mountains. 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.200 He continued, quote. Mr Burr has mentioned to me that 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:06.400 the inhabitants of Louisiana, the lands recently purchased from France, 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.440 seemed determined to render themselves independent of the United States, 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.040 and the execution of their design is only delayed by 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.320 the difficulty of obtaining previously an assurance of protection and 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:23.200 assistance from some foreign power. It is clear that Mr 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.239 Burr means to endeavor to be the instrument for affecting 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.720 such a connection. Making his move, Burr sent a coded 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.120 letter to Wilkinson outlining his next plan. I have at 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:40.160 length obtained funds it included, and have actually commenced. The 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.520 letter would become known as the Cipher Letter, and the 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:47.320 document figured prominently at Burr's treason trial. Both the prosecution 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.920 and the defense used the Cipher Letter to try and 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:54.840 prove their case. Wilkinson, though believed that the plan was 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.040 going to fail, and he betrayed Burr Rumors about Burr's 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.800 plans had begun to circulate and had even been published 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:06.240 in newspapers. One Philadelphia paper speculated that Burr would soon 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.000 be quote at the head of a revolutionary party. It 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.880 also reported that he planned to quote engage in the 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.640 reduction of Mexico with the aid of quote British ships 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:22.200 and forces. The persistent rumors made President Jefferson increasingly suspicious, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:26.160 and then on October nine, Wilkinson sent a letter to 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.560 Jefferson outlining the conspiracy. He did not name Burr, but 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.160 stated that there was a quote deep, dark, wicked, and 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:40.200 widespread conspiracy afoot. In an interesting and somewhat twisty side note, 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.400 it turns out that Wilkinson was in the pocket of 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:48.000 the Spanish government for many years. It's that old when 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.520 you accuse people of things, it's because you are doing 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:57.240 it yourself. Ah. So we're going to take a break 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.240 for a word from our sponsor now, and when we're 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.280 back you will be talking about Burr's arrest, his indictment, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:20.680 and finally his trial. Welcome back to Criminalia. This is it, 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:26.560 the Burr conspiracy. So let's untangle what happened now. On 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.159 the move Burr's first stop was Blenner Hasset's Island on 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.560 the Ohio River, where he intended on rallying his forces. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.879 Harmon blenner Hasset, wealthy Irish aristocrat, and his wife Margaret, 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.920 constructed their estate on the island in They allowed their 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:47.280 island to become headquarters for Burr's military expedition or mission, 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.200 or exploit, whatever we should be calling in at this point, 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.560 since they had met him along the river during his 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:59.879 early trips west. On December nine, eighteen o six, authority 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:04.920 struck their first blow against his plan. Ohio militiaman captured 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.760 most of Burr's boats and supplies at a merry at 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.280 a boatyard. Two days later, the militia rated blinder Hassett's Island, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.640 but most of the men had already left. The end 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:20.359 though came at Bioupierre, just thirty miles outside of New Orleans, 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.720 when Burr saw a headline in a New Orleans newspaper 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.640 announcing a reward for his capture. The paper also had 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.120 printed in full a translation of the coded letter Burr 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.440 had sent to Wilkinson. He surrendered to authorities at Biopierre 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.760 and was arraigned before a Grand jury. He and his 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.600 supporters insisted they had no intention of attacking US territory, 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.080 and the jury failed to return an indictment, so he 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.880 went free. Next for Burr was traveled down the Mississippi 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.000 River on nine long boats along with about sixty men, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.600 and that is when he learned that he might be 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.600 assassinated if he went to New Orleans. While making his 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.400 way deep into the Mississippi Territory, soldiers from Fort Stoddard, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.879 Louisiana Territory captured Burr, who was considered a fugitive at 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.160 that point. They captured him on the morning of February nineteenth, 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.080 eighteen o seven, on a muddy road near the hamlet 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:20.240 of Wakefield. On June seven, a grand jury indicted Burr 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.760 for treason for levying war against the United States, an 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.359 act which was said to have taken place on December tenth, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.679 eighteen o six, on Blenner Hassett's Island. Burr was also 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.520 indicted for high misdemeanor for organizing a military expedition against 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.760 Spain in Mexico in violation of the Neutrality Act of 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.679 He was tried separately on the two charges. Despite the 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.000 weakness of the evidence against him. His case went to trial, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:52.000 and it began on August third, eighteen o seven. Had 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.040 he been found guilty of treason, the penalty would be death. 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.280 His trial, or the Burr Conspiracy, as it came to 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.800 be known, was held in Richmond, Virginia. Why Virginia because 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.439 the alleged overt act of treason had taken place on 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.520 blinder Hassett Island, a small spot of land that was 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:14.080 at the time part of Virginia. John Marshall, chief Justice 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.280 of the United States Supreme Court, sat as circuit judge. 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.400 The defense attorneys included Edmund Randolph and Luther Martin, both 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:26.240 former delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Jefferson himself led the 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.720 prosecution from the White House, or micro managed it, it 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:34.520 would seem. Attorneys George Hay and William Wirt, who would 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.760 go on to become the longest serving Attorney General in 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.960 United States history, rounded out the prosecution. At one point 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:47.000 during the proceedings, Martin denounced President Jefferson for behaving like 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:51.159 quote a king of Great Britain and for unleashing quote 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.920 the dogs of war the hell hounds of persecution against 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:59.920 an innocent man for personal reasons. Jefferson responded by insinuating 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.560 that Martin was a co conspirator of Burr and should 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.480 be prosecuted for quote miss prision that would be concealment 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.800 of treason. At least he was not on the prosecution side. 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.199 The National Endowment for the Humanities has a great description 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.720 of work engaged in the courtroom. They referred to his 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.119 scathing portrayal of Burr as the serpent in the garden 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.960 of Republican virtue as the quote rhetorical high point in 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:29.800 the trial. The prosecution lined up more than one hundred 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:36.159 and forty witnesses. Jefferson had sent prosecutors blank pardons quote 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.560 to be filled up at your discretion should any of 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:42.679 the other offenders be willing to testify against Fur. But 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:47.400 after several testified to Burr's quote evil intention, Burr's lawyers 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.680 objected to any witnesses who weren't offering any evidence regarding 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:57.400 actual overt acts of treason. Chief Justice Marshall ruled in favor, 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.280 arguing that only witnesses who could tell defy about an 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.320 overt act of levying war could take the stand. He 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.240 instructed the jury that it had to confine its decision 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.159 to testimony that an act of war against the United 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:14.560 States had been conducted on Blenner has Its Island. We 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:19.080 quote no testimony relative to the conduct or declarations of 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:23.119 the prisoner elsewhere and subsequent to the transaction on Blenner 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:27.520 Hasset's Island can be admitted because such testimony, being in 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.919 its nature merely corroborative and incompetent to prove the overt 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.639 act in itself. Is it relevant until there be proof 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:39.919 of the overt act by two witnesses. This opinion does 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.520 not comprehend the proof by two witnesses that the meeting 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.000 on Blenner has Its Island was procured by the prisoner. 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.800 Here's what happened on that day. On Blenner Hassets Island. 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:54.600 There had been an uneventful but armed standoff between some 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:58.760 of Burr's men and the Virginia State militia. On December tenth, 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:02.560 eighteen o six. Party of Burr's supporters had assembled with 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.879 supplies and a few boats. The men were armed, but 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.440 reportedly they had mostly hunting rifles, not military muskets. They 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.760 spent time on target practice, and they prepared ammunition for 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.840 the rifles. The island was the one and only location 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.680 where the government claimed that Burr was planning that overt 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:26.120 act of treason, but he wasn't even there that day. 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:28.760 Burr was a hundred miles away from events on Blinder 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:32.600 Hassett's Island on December tenth, and that was damaging testimony 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:37.760 for the prosecution. Chief Justice Marshall issued a subpoena to 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:42.080 President Jefferson to deliver documents that Burr had requested to 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:46.800 prepare his defense, including War Department orders and copies of 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:49.359 the letter and other paper sent to Jefferson by General 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:54.040 James Wilkinson. Jefferson supplied only a small number of letters 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:57.119 to the court, and he never acknowledged the subpoena or 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:01.080 the second one that he received later that summer. As 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:04.919 to the overt acts, Jefferson wrote, We're not the bundle 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:09.360 of letters of information in Attorney General Caesar Rodney's hands. 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:13.600 The letters and facts published in local newspapers, Burr's flight, 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:17.480 and the universal belief or rumor of his guilt probable 0:24:17.520 --> 0:24:22.120 ground for presuming overt acts to have taken place. Jefferson 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:29.359 didn't like Burr. Are the rumors not enough? But he 0:24:29.440 --> 0:24:33.040 did not get along with Marshall either. Marshall took a 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:36.359 nationalist view of the Constitution, and he focused on strong 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:41.240 central government. Jefferson was an a grarian. Jefferson also believed 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.000 the Chief Justice stole a seat on the Supreme Court 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:47.639 through lame duck appointments. So let's just say there was 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:53.560 friction here absolutely whether he had or had not plotted 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:56.800 to take United States in Spanish territories in Louisiana and 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:01.600 Mexico to establish an independent republic. He was acquitted for 0:25:01.720 --> 0:25:05.600 lack of evidence, a verdict many historians attribute to Marshall's 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:09.240 strict instructions to the jury to take strict and narrow 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:14.720 interpretation of the Constitution's treason clause. Burr's team spent three 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:18.800 days arguing this very thing, that to be guilty of treason, 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:23.000 the accused must have committed an overt act in a war, 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:28.040 testified to by two witnesses and committed within the district 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:32.800 of the trial. Because Burr's actions did not meet that definition, 0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:36.240 he had to be acquitted. The jury found him quote 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:40.680 not guilty by the evidence presented. Separately, Burr was also 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:45.919 acquitted on his high misdemeanor charge. Jefferson, in frustration and 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:49.560 anger at that verdict, wanted the House of representatives to 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:53.960 bring an impeachment charge against Chief Justice Marshall Jefferson, though 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:58.000 did not get his way on that one. After his acquittal, 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:01.359 Burr was not guilty, but found he had lost in 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:05.040 the court of public opinion. He was burned in effigy. 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:09.040 With resources drained, Burr left the United States to live 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:12.680 as an expat in Europe, but not permanently. He did 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:15.720 return to the United States and in eighteen twelve resumed 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:19.359 practicing law in New York City. In his final years, 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:23.120 he did suffer multiple strokes that left him partially paralyzed, 0:26:23.160 --> 0:26:27.080 and he died on September four, eighteen thirty six, at 0:26:27.080 --> 0:26:29.199 the age of eighty, while in the care of a 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:39.200 cousin at Port Richmond, Staten Island in New York. So 0:26:39.640 --> 0:26:42.639 this season, out of the treasonists in the traders, what 0:26:42.720 --> 0:26:46.159 shall we call our goldtail station, I'm calling this the 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:50.240 perfect e poor. I just felt alliterative, and I like 0:26:50.400 --> 0:26:55.640 that word. Sometimes the word is Wednesday, and it's true 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:58.480