Archives West Finding Aid

The Aaron Burr Association was a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the life and legacy of Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Prior to this position, he worked as a successful lawyer in New York City and was appointed attorney general by Governor George Clinton in 1789. When the election of 1800 arrived, both Burr and Thomas Jefferson received the same number of electoral votes, complicating the matter of who should serve as president and who as vice president. The tie was eventually broken by the House of Representatives who chose Jefferson as president. This resulted in the passage of the twelfth amendment to the Constitution which stipulated that separate ballots must be cast for vice president and president during an election cycle.

Perhaps one of the most defining moments of Burr’s career was his relationship with Alexander Hamilton. Both harbored animosity toward the other. In 1804, Hamilton dispersed defamatory letters about Burr to hurt his chance at winning the governorship of New York. Events led to a duel in which Burr killed Hamilton. Burr then fled to Philadelphia as murder charges mounted with a plan to escape into Mexico where he planned to form his own government. However, his plan was foiled by his chosen confidante, James Wilkinson, who reported Burr’s plans to Jefferson. Burr was promptly arrested and put on trial in Virginia for treason. The judge acquitted him, and Burr spent the next four years in Europe before returning to New York in 1812 to practice law again and remarrying in 1833. The marriage was short-lived, however, as Burr squandered his wife’s wealth, causing her to file for divorce. He died in 1836.