American Legends : The Life Of Aaron Burr

Chapter One: The Duel was a well-known duel in American history. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. July 11, 1804 is the exact date when the duel took place. It was presumed to have taken place in Weehawken, New Jersey; when in actuality, the duel really took place on a ledge above the water near Weehawken. This isolated spot was foolproof for illegal acts like this. Hamilton ends up dying because of Burr. Burr shot him from a distance. The bullet hit a rib and then ricocheted off into his spine mortally wounding Hamilton. Hamilton was the one that chose the position and the weapons for the duel, but the public thought that Burr killed him in cold blood. The public also started to call Burr the new Benedict Arnold. (Benedict Arnold was considered a traitor.) Burr was never harmed in the whole incident. Because everyone thought Burr was the initiator, he had to leave the city and this was the decline of his political power. Both of these men’s reputations were failing by 1804. Hamilton was appointed the first Secretary of Treasury under George Washington after the Revolutionary War. The Federalist Party was in decline and Hamilton did not hold office for approximately ten years. Burr lost the support

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis is an episodic recount of six pivotal moments in post-revolutionary America’s history. The book follows Abigail Adams, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington through these events. The author seeks to show not only the outcomes that occurred in them, but to give in detail deeper thought about the thinking and actions that lead to those outcomes.

The chapters are titled "The Generation", "The Duel", "The Dinner", "The Silence", "The Farewell", "The Collaborators" and "The Friendship". In "The Duel", the story of the legendary duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is related in its entirety. It was by far the most prominent deadly standoff between two men in history. Ellis relates the background and brief biographies of the two men involved in the duel. He also reveals the context for the duel, a culmination of political and personal jabs at Burrs character by Hamilton. In fact these jabs held a good deal of truth, and finally resulted in Burr challenging Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Burr went to the plains in Weehawken to conduct the duel in defense of their honor and characters. Historically, Hamilton is seen as a martyr in the duel and Burr seen as a treacherous murderer. This Hamiltonian viewpoint is dominant among historians because it is widely believed that Hamilton went into the duel not intending to fire a shot and that Burr fired the first shot. Ellis believes this version of the story to be wrong. He believes that Hamilton honored his bargain of not firing on Burr, wasting his first shot by firing it into the trees. Burr, thinking that Hamilton fired at him, shot and killed Hamilton with his shot.

America has long been considered a great, powerful country. From its beginning, the United States had the potential to be something revolutionary. The idea of a democracy was, in the 1700’s, strange. While many men are regarded as key elements in the birth of America, one man stands out, despite his sometimes being overshadowed by fellow Founding Fathers. Alexander Hamilton was an immigrant, soldier, and the first Secretary of the United States Treasury, among his other contributions to America. He had dreams for his adopted country and was highly determined to see them to fruition and create a new, remarkable nation. Alexander Hamilton embodies the characteristics of an epic hero because he was a great warrior, he was capable of great deeds of strength and courage, and he is a national hero.

On July 11, 1804, a bullet from Aaron Burr’s pistol put an end to the life of Alexander Hamilton. However, it did not put an end to Hamilton’s vision for America. In 1806, a twenty-nine year old Kentuckian entered the U.S Senate and breathed life into Hamilton’s vision. His name was Henry Clay. For the next forty years, the man whom Abraham Lincoln called “My beau-ideal of a statesman” to natiously strove to implement a federal economic policy that closely followed

The first story is the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was wounded and died on the next day, but Aaron’s political career was hurt too much that it would forever not be recovered. Understanding their personalities gives the answer for their fateful ending and legacy. Burr’s philosophy was more democratic than Hamilton, and he supported for slavery abolishing and for spreading land ownership. These ideas of Burr, which had been the foundation for the Civil War in the middle of 19th century, come from the root of his characteristic, as Ellis drew “Whereas Burr’s overall demeanor seemed subdued, as if the compressed energies of New England Puritanism were coiled up inside him, waiting for the opportunity to explode, Hamilton conveyed kinetic energy incessantly expressing itself in burst of conspicuous brilliance” (p.22). History has been considered Burr as a progressive and aggressive person, even

In many U.S. history classes all over the country, the Alexander Hamilton Vs. Aaron Burr duel is taught with little detail. Hamilton is a founding father, Burr is the Vice President, they challenge each other to a duel and Hamilton dies. However there is much more to the story as Hamilton consciously made the decision to throw away his shot and give Burr all of the power. This may not be the kind of decision that most people would make in this situation, but for Hamilton it was necessary. Alexander Hamilton had been through a great deal of hardships in his life. In the beginning his childhood was dark and filled with death, he tainted his love life and career with an affair, he gave his son fatal advice, and by speaking what he thought to be true he landed himself a spot in the duel against Burr. Within all of these aspects, Hamilton found himself helpless and no matter what he tried, he could not seem to fix the situation. Perhaps Hamilton decided to lay his fate in the hands of someone else for once because he never truly felt in control.

Aaron Burr had been Vice President during the first administration of Thomas Jefferson. In the summer of 1804, Burr killed his rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel, an event that effectively ended Burr’s career in national politics. Three years later, he was on trial, charged with the capital crime of treason by the government headed by Jefferson, his former partner in political office. Presiding over the trial was John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States. Finally, there was James Wilkinson, general of the army, once Burr’s associate and at trial his chief accuser. With these principal players, the trial in the U.S. Circuit Court at Richmond was as much high political and personal drama as it was a judicial proceeding

When the United States first gained its independence from England in 1776, most people believed that it would fail. This most likely would have been true, had it not been for the founding fathers that held our fragile country together. Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson are only a few of the many political figures that helped rule the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, helping turn this country from an oppressive monarchy to a solidified republic in only a few decades. In the eyes of many, these three supposed geniuses were similar to gods. However, just like every single person that has ever been born, they had flaws that made them different from everybody else; these flaws heavily influenced almost every decision that they made, for better or worse. For example, Alexander Hamilton was very arrogant and egotistical, contributing to his brash and seemingly aggressive personality. In addition, John Adams was very stubborn and stuck in his ways when it came to listening to others; however, he was the complete opposite, very easily swayed, when it came to listening to his wife. Finally, Thomas Jefferson was an idealist, which in many cases, contributed to him being somewhat of a hypocrite. All three of these important political figures were obviously very influential in our country’s history, but like all humans, they had their flaws.

The soldiers from Ft. Stoddert, Louisiana Territory, captured the fugitive Aaron Burr on a February morning in 1807, on a muddy road near the hamlet of Wakefield. Burr's fall from grace seemed total. The former vice president, who had dressed as magnificently as any head of state, wore a battered beaver hat and ragged wool coat. The dandy who had charmed women by the score sported a scruffy crop of whiskers. Aaron Burr had traveled West just six months before to carve out his own empire. Now, he would return East to stand trial for treason.

Ellis seems to be biased in his writing. He tries to be objective when explaining the relationship of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, by detailing Hamilton’s concerns about Burr’s character during a time period where it mattered. Unlike the other figures mentioned later it is hard to contort the perspective of Burr into a leader that needs to be revered. Ellis does however show that Burr and Hamilton were very much alike and that many of the other political pioneers had legitimate concerns about Hamilton’s character. That is where the objectivity ends however.

After resigning as Vice President due to his infamous duel with the late Alexander Hamilton in July of 1804, Aaron Burr began partaking in suspicious activities. According to rumors, Burr planned to overthrow the government somehow. It now known that Burr and his allies intended to make a new nation in the middle of North America. Word of the cabal’s intentions reached President Thomas Jefferson who ordered an arrest warrant on Burr for treason. It was recently revealed to the public that the person that sold Aaron Burr out is General Wilkinson who was a close ally of Burr. Burr received news that there was a warrant out for his arrest and surrendered to local authorities. There was contemplations of the terms of Burr’s arrest. During this

These men had self-serving agendas themselves just like Aaron Burr did but they are hardly criticized for it. Wood says that Jefferson and Hamilton embody the "democratic world of progress, Providence and innumerable isolated but equal individuals, there could be little place for the kind of extraordinary political and intellectual leadership the revolutionary generation had demonstrated," and that these men had “politeness, taste, sociability, learning, compassion, and benevolence-and what it meant to be good political leaders” (22). On the other hand was Burr who was demonized for his selfish actions in this book. Wood says he embodied "what most American politicians would eventually become — pragmatic, get-along men."

    People worldwide are praising a man who doesn’t deserve it. Despite being considered one of America’s most influential founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton’s character could never compete with his political status. Alexander Hamilton has been made into an inspiration that he doesn’t deserve to be, being portrayed as the exact opposite of what he stood for in a recent resurgence of praise for him sparked in particular by the world-renowned musical Hamilton. Although he may be receiving this praise, his character is undeniably horrid due to many flaws in his character including the encouragement of anti-immigration laws and his desire for powerful landowners to get complete power in government over the