You see this guy on the $10 Bill and you might wonder (asI’m sure you do) just who he was and what made him tick and what happened in 1804 to cause him to become engaged in a late afternoon gunman’s duel that would cause his death… yes? Shot through the liver by a gun in the hands of Aaron Burr… right? You’re telling me you don’t have a lot of $10 bills these days? I understand. Believe me, I do. But let’s take a look at an interesting duel, anyway. In 1800 the US of A was having a rather heated Election. History sometimes views this as a sort of minor “revolution” in American politics, and I think this is probably true. It was a time of division and splintering as Americans decided on what the country might become – Republicans appealed to the “farmers” in the South and West while the Federalists won over the “merchants” and “manufacturers” in the North. One group wanted the country to remain agricultural and supply Europe with food, the other wanted a broad industrial base. This is over-simplistic, but to see the broader background you have to see these two factions and understand that they were bitter, bitter opponents.
The Election of 1800 came down to Thomas Jefferson (Republican) and Aaron Burr (Federalist). The two men would tie for votes in the Electoral College and the election was thrown into the House of Represntatives. It would seem they decided (perhaps) on the lesser of two evils and support was given to Jefferson to become the president. It is interesting that Alexander Hamilton was a key figure in this process: he believed Jefferson to be a “gentleman” whereas Burr was a dangerous, uninhibited, and even vile opponent. Hamilton campaigned hard against him. And
Aaron Burr would not forget or forgive this… nope, not at all.
Burr was a schemer, that is certain. He was Jefferson’s vice-president (a practice of the time) but in 1804 was dropped from Jefferson’s second presidential ticket. I say Burr was a schemer only because I really don’t like him; you will see why in a moment. For now, Burr was trying to get elected governor of New York. This was an important state in the Northeast, particularly when this region (New England) was talking about actually seceding from the Union. (It’s interesting that this is a common theme in American History – people believed in their right to secede).
Anyway, Hamilton launched an impressive smear-campaign against the vile and dangerous Aaron Burr. It ended up costing Burr the governership. At a public dinner Hamilton went further and actually chastised the “uneducated” and “base” politician. He called him all sort of unpolite names, lashed into him, and embarrassed him in front of everyone. Poor Aaron. He didn’t like this, not one bit. Furious, and perhaps with spittle on his lips, he challenged Hamilton to a duel. And how cool is that? A real gentleman’s gunfight, with black longcoats and manners and everything!
The two met, late afternoon, on July 11, 1804. They took several paces across a dusty street, backs to each other, and upon turning, Hamilton’s first shot missed his opponent. Aaron Burr’s shot was not a miss, nope, not at all. It was a direct hit to Hamilton’s side and the bullet would slice through the man’s liver, causing massive bleeding and internal damage. It would take Hamilton a horrible thirty six hours to die from the wound.
Burr, meanwhile, fled from the Northeast; he was charged with murder and the authorities were after him. It gets kind of dicey here, with Burr retreating to the South, and stirring up ideas of a secession there, where it is rumored he was trying to seize territory in Louisiana. But he WAS busy, certainly, for three years; it is possible he was trying to forment rebellion in the South and West. He was arrested in Spanish Florida in 1807 and returned to Jefferson’s custody. On trial for murder (and now, treason), Aaron Burr was acquitted, in what was akin to a political circus on the scale of our own modern-day O.J. trial. Jefferson (and his Republicans) wanted Burr to hang; the Federalists wanted him set free. Poor Alexander Hamilton, resigned to his future fate on $10 bills, wanted to take another shot at his foe. In the end, Burr was set free and it was “suggested” he leave the country. He retired to England, and then France, and in 1836 would die from a bullet-wound to the heart. Oh! Not really. He had a massive stroke and died from complications.
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