98 Facts About Aaron Burr

Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexander Hamilton that culminated with Burr killing Hamilton in a duel in 1804, while Burr was vice president.

At age 26, Aaron Burr married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, who died in 1794 after twelve years of marriage.

In 1791, Aaron Burr was elected to the US Senate, where he served until 1797.

Aaron Burr traveled west to the American frontier, seeking new economic and political opportunities.

Aaron Burr was brought to trial more than once for what became known as the Burr conspiracy, an alleged plot to create an independent country led by Burr, but was acquitted each time.

Aaron Burr returned in 1812 and resumed practicing law in New York City.

Handicapped by a stroke and financially ruined, Aaron Burr died at a boarding house in 1836.

Aaron Burr had an older sister Sarah, who was named for her maternal grandmother.

Aaron Burr married Tapping Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Aaron Burr's father died in 1757 while serving as president of the college at Princeton.

The next year, Edwards married Rhoda Ogden and moved the family to Elizabeth, New Jersey where Aaron Burr attended the Elizabethtown Academy.

Aaron Burr had a very strained relationship with his uncle, who was often physically abusive.

At age 13, Aaron Burr was admitted to Princeton as a sophomore, where he joined the American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society, the college's literary and debating societies.

Aaron Burr then undertook rigorous theological training with Joseph Bellamy, a Presbyterian, but changed his career path after two years.

In 1775, news reached Litchfield of the clashes with British troops at Lexington and Concord, and Aaron Burr put his studies on hold to enlist in the Continental Army.

Aaron Burr sent him up the Saint Lawrence River to contact General Richard Montgomery, who had taken Montreal, and escort him to Quebec.

Aaron Burr was already a nationally known hero, but he never received a commendation.

Nevertheless, Aaron Burr defended Washington's decision to evacuate New York as "a necessary consequence".

Aaron Burr was briefly posted in Kingsbridge during 1776, at which time he was charged with protecting 14-year-old Margaret Moncrieffe, the daughter of Staten Island-based British Major Thomas Moncrieffe.

Aaron Burr fell in love with Margaret, and Margaret's attempts to remain with Aaron Burr were unsuccessful.

In late 1776, Aaron Burr attempted to secure Washington's approval to retake fortifications held by the British on Staten Island, citing his deep familiarity with the area.

Later that year, Aaron Burr commanded a small contingent during the harsh winter encampment at Valley Forge, guarding "the Gulph," an isolated pass that controlled one approach to the camp.

Aaron Burr imposed discipline and defeated an attempted mutiny by some of the troops.

In Prevost's absence, Aaron Burr began regularly visiting Theodosia at The Hermitage, her home in New Jersey.

Theodosia and Aaron Burr were married in 1782, and they moved to a house on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.

Aaron Burr began practicing law in New York City the following year after the British evacuated the city.

In 1784, as an assemblyman, Aaron Burr unsuccessfully sought to abolish slavery immediately following the American Revolutionary War.

Aaron Burr became seriously involved in politics in 1789, when George Clinton appointed him as New York State Attorney General.

Aaron Burr was Commissioner of Revolutionary War Claims in 1791.

Aaron Burr ran for president in the 1796 election and received 30 electoral votes, coming in fourth behind John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Pinckney.

Aaron Burr was shocked by this defeat, but many Democratic-Republican electors voted for Jefferson and no one else, or for Jefferson and a candidate other than Burr.

Aaron Burr quickly became a key player in New York politics, largely due to the power of the Tammany Society.

Aaron Burr converted it from a social club into a political machine to help Jefferson reach the presidency, particularly in crowded New York City.

Church had accused Aaron Burr of taking a bribe from the Holland Company in exchange for his political influence.

Aaron Burr accepted this as an apology, and the two men shook hands and ended the dispute.

Aaron Burr solicited support from Hamilton and other Federalists under the guise that he was establishing a badly needed water company for Manhattan.

Aaron Burr secretly changed the application for a state charter at the last minute to include the ability to invest surplus funds in any cause that did not violate state law, and dropped any pretense of founding a water company once he had gained approval.

Aaron Burr's Manhattan Company was more than a bank; it was a tool to promote Democratic-Republican power and influence, and its loans were directed to partisans.

Aaron Burr enlisted the help of Tammany Hall to win the voting for selection of Electoral College delegates.

Aaron Burr gained a place on the Democratic-Republican presidential ticket in the 1800 election with Jefferson.

Publicly, Aaron Burr remained quiet and refused to surrender the presidency to Jefferson, the great enemy of the Federalists.

One newspaper wrote that Aaron Burr had conducted the proceedings with the "impartiality of an angel, but with the rigor of a devil".

Aaron Burr was not nominated to a second term as Jefferson's running mate in Jefferson's successful 1804 re-election campaign and New York governor George Clinton replaced Aaron Burr as Jefferson's vice president on March 4,1805.

Aaron Burr lost the election to little known Morgan Lewis, in what was the most significant margin of loss in New York's history up to that time.

Aaron Burr blamed his loss on a personal smear campaign believed to have been orchestrated by his party rivals, including New York governor George Clinton.

Hamilton replied that Aaron Burr should give specifics of Hamilton's remarks, not Cooper's.

Aaron Burr said he could not answer regarding Cooper's interpretation.

Aaron Burr responded by challenging Hamilton to a duel, personal combat under the formalized rules for dueling, the code duello.

The seconds placed Hamilton so that Aaron Burr would have the rising sun behind him, and during the brief duel, one witness reported, Hamilton seemed to be hindered by this placement as the sun was in his eyes.

Aaron Burr's fatally injured Hamilton, while Hamilton's was purposely fired into the air.

Aaron Burr's bullet entered Hamilton's abdomen above his right hip, piercing Hamilton's liver and spine.

Aaron Burr was charged with multiple crimes, including murder, in New York and New Jersey, but was never tried in either jurisdiction.

Aaron Burr fled to South Carolina, where his daughter lived with her family, but soon returned to Philadelphia and then to Washington to complete his term as vice president.

Aaron Burr avoided New York and New Jersey for a time, but all the charges against him were eventually dropped.

Jefferson issued an order for Aaron Burr's arrest, declaring him a traitor before any indictment.

Aaron Burr read this in a newspaper in the Territory of Orleans on January 10,1807.

Aaron Burr twice turned himself in to Federal authorities, and both times judges found his actions legal and released him.

Jefferson's warrant followed Aaron Burr, who fled toward Spanish Florida.

Aaron Burr was intercepted at Wakefield, in Mississippi Territory, on February 19,1807.

Aaron Burr was confined to Fort Stoddert after being arrested on charges of treason.

In 1807, Aaron Burr was brought to trial on a charge of treason before the United States Circuit court at Richmond, Virginia.

Aaron Burr had been arraigned four times for treason before a grand jury indicted him.

The only physical evidence presented to the Grand Jury was Wilkinson's so-called letter from Aaron Burr, which proposed the idea of stealing land in the Louisiana Purchase.

Aaron Burr said he had made a copy because he had lost the original.

Aaron Burr was immediately tried on a misdemeanor charge and was again acquitted.

Aaron Burr sent a letter to Jefferson in which he stated that he could do Jefferson much harm.

David O Stewart, on the other hand, insists that while Aaron Burr was not explicitly guilty of treason, according to Marshall's definition, evidence exists that links him to treasonous crimes.

For example, Bollman admitted to Jefferson during an interrogation that Aaron Burr planned to raise an army and invade Mexico.

Aaron Burr said that Burr believed that he should be Mexico's monarch, as a republican government was not right for the Mexican people.

Dr David Hosack, Hamilton's physician and a friend to both Hamilton and Aaron Burr, lent Aaron Burr money for passage on a ship.

Aaron Burr lived in self-imposed exile from 1808 to 1812, passing most of this period in England, where he occupied a house on Craven Street in London.

Aaron Burr became a good friend, even confidant, of the English Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, and on occasion lived at Bentham's home.

Aaron Burr spent time in Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and France.

Aaron Burr was ordered out of England and Emperor Napoleon of France refused to receive him.

On July 1,1833, at age 77, Aaron Burr married Eliza Jumel, a wealthy widow who was 19 years younger.

Aaron Burr died on Staten Island in the village of Port Richmond, in a boardinghouse that later became known as the St James Hotel on September 14,1836, the same day the divorce was officially completed.

Aaron Burr was buried near his father in Princeton, New Jersey.

Aaron Burr acted as a parent to his two stepsons by his wife's first marriage and he became a mentor or guardian to several proteges who lived in his home.

Theodosia Aaron Burr was born in 1783 and was named after her mother.

Aaron Burr was the only child of Burr's marriage to Theodosia Bartow Prevost who survived to adulthood.

Aaron Burr served as a guardian to Nathalie de Lage de Volude from 1794 to 1801, during Theodosia's childhood.

Aaron Burr opened his home to them, allowing Madame Senat to tutor private students there along with his daughter, and Nathalie became a companion and close friend to Theodosia.

Aaron Burr arranged Vanderlyn's training by Gilbert Stuart in Philadelphia and sent him in 1796 to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he remained for six years.

In 1835, the year before his death, Aaron Burr acknowledged two young daughters whom he had fathered late in his life, by different mothers.

Aaron Burr worked as a servant in his household during his first marriage.

Aaron Burr fathered two children with Emmons, both of whom married into Philadelphia's "Free Negro" community in which their families became prominent:.

Aaron Burr was a man of complex character who made many friends, but many powerful enemies.

Aaron Burr was arrested and prosecuted for treason by President Jefferson, but acquitted.

The wife of the struggling poet Sumner Lincoln Fairfield recorded in her autobiography that in the late 1820s, their friend Aaron Burr pawned his watch to provide for the care of the Fairfields' two children.

Aaron Burr believed women to be intellectually equal to men and hung a portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft over his mantel.

Hamilton attacked Aaron Burr for supporting the idea women were the intellectual equals of men.

Aaron Burr described "sexual release as the only remedy for his restlessness and irritability".

Aaron Burr fought against anti-immigrant sentiment, led by Hamilton's Federalist party, which suggested that anyone without English heritage was a second-class citizen, and even challenged the rights of non-Anglos to hold office.

At an earlier time, he wrote, Aaron Burr "had served in the army, and came out of it with the character of a knight without fear and an able officer".

Aaron Burr believed that this led to his personal and political defeats and, ultimately, to his place outside the golden circle of revered revolutionary figures.

Hamilton thought that Aaron Burr's self-serving nature made him unfit to hold office, especially the presidency.

Historian Nancy Isenberg, explaining why Aaron Burr has been demonized in modern times, writes that Aaron Burr's villainy is actually the result of a smear campaign invented by his political enemies centuries ago, and then disseminated in newspapers, pamphlets and personal letters during and after his lifetime.

Aaron Burr is sometimes seen as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, although this characterization is unusual.