Before the duel, Hamilton wrote in a letter that he hated the concept of dueling. Hamilton’s son, Phillip, had even been killed in a duel a few years before. In fact, it actually happened in the same place where Hamilton himself would be killed. Hamilton wrote in the letter that he would not fire at Burr. But on the morning of the duel, Hamilton didn’t fire into the ground. Instead, he fired over Burr’s head. It’s easy to see how that might make Burr think Hamilton had simply missed. Some historians have even suggested that Hamilton was trying to provoke Burr into killing him. This would ruin Burr’s political career and make Hamilton a martyr.
Hamilton wasn’t opposing Burr’s political goals just because he didn’t like him. He saw Burr as a potential tyrant who would destroy the republican government of the country. In a sense, Hamilton may have been trying to sacrifice his own life to save the country. It would make Hamilton a hero who would be remembered forever and ruin Burr. Of course, that’s only one possible interpretation of the events. It’s possible that Hamilton simply made a bad decision in firing towards Burr instead of into the ground. But in either case, Burr was certainly ruined.
Burr was charged with murder multiple times, but none of the charges resulted in a trial. Burr was still forced to resign as Vice President in 1805. Showing some of the political skills that made Hamilton worry Burr would be an American Caesar, his farewell speech moved even his harshest opponents to tears. With his political career over, Burr began looking at some of his other options. And the one he may have decided on was absolutely insane. The Burr Conspiracy, depending on whom you ask, was a plan to either to either destroy America with the help of European powers, detach large parts of the country that Burr could rule like an emperor, or possibly just a complete hoax.
The plan supposedly began the same year of the duel when Burr met with a representative of the British Government. Burr suggested that he could help the British detach large parts of the Louisiana purchase if they were willing to give him cash and a few ships to support his plan. But when the British didn’t seem particularly interested, Burr turned to the Spanish. In 1806, he contacted a Spanish Minister and told him that he was planning to lead parts of the US to secede from the country and then attack Washington D.C.
The minister gave Burr a few thousand dollars to get started, but the Spanish government didn’t give Burr any official support. Burr then went around gathering troops for his expedition. But one of Burr’s accomplices quickly betrayed him to President Jefferson, and Burr was arrested for treason. Because of a lack of hard evidence, Burr was let go. Historians have debated ever since whether Burr’s plot was ever serious or even real- obviously, the evidence wasn’t conclusive. But either way, he was completely ruined. Burr spent a few years traveling around Europe, forgotten and penniless. He eventually returned to the US under a fake name, where he died in 1836, bringing an end to one of the strangest chapters in American history.
Where did we get this stuff? Here are our sources:
American Heritage Magazine: The Conspiracy and Trial of Aaron Burr
History Net: Alexander Hamilton’s Death: Suicide or Lost Shot
Founders Online: Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr, [28 June-10 July 1804]