The political history of the U.S. is filled with a variety of scoundrels, although few rise to the blatant level of today. One of the nation’s earliest such political scoundrels had a slight connection to this region of the South. His name was Arron Burr.
Arron Burr was born in 1756 in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton College as a young man in 1772 and then enlisted in the Continental Army, rising from the rank of private to lieutenant colonel as a result of bravery and leadership in several major battles. After the war he became a lawyer in New York and within ten years had served as a New York state legislator, attorney general and U.S. Senator. Then he ran for president in 1796 and 1800. Burr was successful in 1800 - tying the number of votes with Thomas Jefferson. To resolve the deadlock, the U.S. House of Representatives was assigned to decide; they chose Jefferson after the 36th house ballot. As the constitution of the day directed, Burr was then made vice-president.
Burr lost the office of president partially through the efforts of an old colleague, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was at that time an ardent loyalist of Jefferson and had further resented Burr for defeating Hamilton’s father-in-law a few years earlier in his senate race. Burr, was not content with the position of vice-president, while still holding this office he then ran for governor of New York. He was defeated, again somewhat through the efforts of Hamilton. Infuriated by Hamilton’s continued efforts to thwart his political ambitions, Burr sent a scathing letter demanding satisfaction. On a July morning in 1804 the two men met on a dueling field in New Jersey. Hamilton refused to raise his gun, but Burr fired.
Alexander Hamilton was considered a genius. He was a Revolutionary War hero and the nation’s first U.S. Treasurer. In the rough years after the war, he had established government income through tariffs, created a federal bank which produced a national currency and laid out the national monetary system. At news of his death, charges of murder were immediately issued for Burr in New York and New Jersey, but because he was a sitting vice-president, he was never tried. Charges were later dropped.
Burr’s political career however was now finished. He traveled west and then south, joining the many voices intent in driving the Spanish from the southern regions. One of his largest supporters was Andrew Jackson. Eventually, Burr devised a plan to create a colony with a small force of about one hundred farmers on forty thousand acres west of Vicksburg in Louisiana. One of his partners was General James Wilkinson, Military Governor of Louisiana Territory and commander of the U.S. Army at New Orleans. (Later in 1813, Wilkinson’s forces would take Mobile under orders of President Monroe.)
In 1806 General Wilkinson found Burr’s partnership too personally risky and notified President Jefferson of Burr’s plans. Jefferson, having little use for his political rival and still angry for the loss of Hamilton, declared Burr a traitor and issued warrants for his arrest. Burr, who always thought himself a patriot, was stunned when he saw that he was a wanted man. Several times he turned himself into local judges, each time being released with no evidence against him. Upon visiting his old friend Andrew Jackson in Tennessee for help, Burr was directed towards the Spanish South. He soon traveled into the wilderness of the Mississippi Territory and to friends in today’s Southern Alabama.
In the middle of February 1807, Burr was reported at the home of Major John Hinson near the juncture of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers; the community today is known as McIntosh. He was taken into custody by a local sheriff and turned over to the military. After the arrival of his servants and possessions in March, Burr, along with a military escort, began a trip up the Alabama River - returning to the U.S. Oral history relates that men and women stood along the banks of the river as his barge passed and wept. On August 3, 1807 in Virginia, Arron Burr was officially charged with treason. His trial attorneys were four of the most famous lawyers of their time. On September 1, with no evidence or witnesses presented by the government, he was acquitted.
Burr now was a broken man with massive debts, he quickly left the U.S. He later traveled to England in efforts to arouse support for his invasion schemes. Failing this, within a few years he returned to the U.S. under an assumed name, took up law in New York and prospered. In 1834 he suffered a devastating stroke and died in 1836.
Although Arron Burr failed in his ambitions to grab territory for the U.S., in 1809 a Louisiana planter, a former ambassador to France under Jefferson, Fulwar Shipwith seized the area east of the Mississippi River along the gulf coast. He announced himself the leader of an independent state and declared this The Republic of West Florida. Within six months, President Monroe illegitimately claimed it as part of the Louisiana Purchase; the U.S. soon took possession. This region today is the lower portion of Mississippi and Alabama and eastern part of Louisiana.
January is our society’s annual membership and donation drive. You are invited to join us. Meetings are on the Third Tuesday of each month. You can meet friends, hear interesting presentations about our history and enjoy a nice meal. See ya, 6pm.
