The Conspiracy Against Aaron Burr

When President Jefferson charged that Aaron Burr was a traitor, the accusation was believed by most Americans. Although the President failed to furnish evidence that Burr was attempting to disrupt the Union, his charges took such deep root in the public mind that they still persist, despite the fact that there were seven prosecutions and seven failures to convict. Nevertheless, even today, in the public mind Burr remains condemned as a villain, writes Oliver Perry Sturm. Historians have endeavored always to place upon Burr the entire blame of the duel [with Alexander Hamilton] and unfortunate blot on the country’s history, and as a sequence a number of his political enemies afterward succeeded in having him arrested on the charge of treason, which was never proven… To me, Burr is the most maligned man in our history, and yet one of the most brilliant. The Conspiracy Against Aaron Burr presents Sturm’s argument, first put forth in 1909, under the fresh light of a new era.