Aaron Burr Jr. (1757-1836), American politician, Revolutionary War hero, adventurer, and the third Vice-President of the United States is one of the most enigmatic characters in the early American history. His distinguished ancestry1, unquestioned courage, and brilliant mind saw him rise quickly to a position of political prominence and he came within a hair-breadth of occupying the highest office in the country; when both he and Thomas Jefferson got an equal number of electoral votes in the Presidential election of 1800. His character defects, however, brought about his equally precipitous downfall as he managed to antagonize some of the most influential persons of the time; fought an infamous duel with the brilliant Federalist politician, Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in the latter's death; and hatched a conspiracy to separate the newly acquired Western territories from the Union. Although acquitted in the ensuing treason trial, he will always be remembered as a villain. This paper examines the controversial aspects of Burr's life: the background and events that led to his duel with Hamilton and the conspiracy.
             Involvement in the Revolutionary War
             Aaron Burr's was a young law student2 in 1775 when he volunteered to serve in the American Revolutionary War with the British. He joined General Benedict Arnold's arduous march to Quebec, Canada in the bitterly cold winter of 1775 and soon earned a reputation for courage as he fought bravely under fire and even tried, in a blinding snowstorm, to evacuate the body of General Richard Montgomery who was killed in the attack. Burr got an early opportunity to serve on General George Washington's staff in New York but was soon relieved of his duty due to unknown reasons.3 He then served as an aide-de-camp to General Israel Putnam and in September of the same year, the British invaded Manhattan and surrounded a full brigade of the American army; Burr helped to ...