Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/797

BUKB. 709 BURR. prominent leader of the Federalists. In the Presi- dential struggle of 1800, John Adams (then President ) , Thomas Jefferson, Charles C. Pinek- ney, and Burr were the candidates, and the votes for .Jefferson and Burr, the two Rei)ul>liean can- didates, were equal — 73 for each. As the Con- stitution then provided, the person having the largest- number of electoral votes was to be I'resi- dent. and the person having the next largest number was to be Vice-President. The ecpuil division threw the election into the House of Representatives, where each State had one vote only, the vote of a majority of all the States being necessary for a choice. After a week of balloting .lefferson was chosen President, and Burr therefore became Vice-President. He was charged, unjustly it seems, with having exerted himself to defeat Jefferson, who was the regular Presidential candidate of his party, and his alleged intrigues to this end ruineti him politi- cally as a Republican. In 1804, however, he ran as an independent candidate for Governor of New York and received the support of some of the Federalists, but was defeated by Morgan Lewis. For this Burr blamed Hamilton, who had undoubtedly used all of his inlluence against him, both on this occasion and in ISOl, and these disappointments and failures, added to the in- tensely bitter character of the partisan warfare of the time, led to a duel, at Weehawken, X. .1., on July 11, 1804, in which Hamilton, who dis- charged his weapon into the air. was killed by Burr. In the spring of 180.5 Burr started for the western part of the country, bent upon the conquest of Mexico and the establishment there of a separate government, with himself as chief. It was in the course of these operations that he brought ruin upon his friend Harnian Blenner- hassett (q.v. ). In ISOG President Jefferson was informed, in part, of Burr's schemes by General Wilkinson, in whom Burr had partially confided, and Burr was soon arrested at Frankfort, Ky. He was defended by Henry Clay, and was acquit- ted after an exciting trial. He was again ar- rested at Natchez in January, 1807, but was released by the Grand Jury, and on February 19, in Alabama, he was a third time arrested. After a long and memorable trial at Richmond, Va., first on a charge of treason and then on a charge of misdemeanor, he was again acquitted, and in June, 1808, sailed for Europe to raise means for prosecuting his schemes. Four years of effort in England, Sweden, Germany, and France resulted in nothing but failure, and in 1812 he returned in extreme poverty, and opened a law office in New York ; but his course had alienated the people, and he met with only mod- erate success. Henry Adams, after showing how Burr had "endeavored by the foul means of a Federal alli- ance to acquire the Presidency," goes on to say, with a vehemence which is really partisan, that '"a more gross betrayal of confidence could hardly be conceived, even in political life. He had made it clear that his heart was set upon personal aggrandizement, and not upon a Repub- lican success. His untrustworthiness appeared the more despicable by comparison with the strictly honorable conduct of Jefferson, who might have excused endeavors on his own be- half upon the plausible ground that he was only forwarding the avowed will of the party. The antipathy with which many persons had long since learned to regard Burr now became the sentiment of all honest and intelligent men in the nation." Schouhr, after referring to the brilliant and captivating manners of Burr, de- scribes him as "one whose restless and romantic ambition was the more dangerous because of his utter want of conscience and generosity. He was socially well coiiMccted. and had, like llaiuil- ton, won a fair military reputation in the war for a young officer, gaining on its close later distinction as an advocate at the New York bar, where these two were professional competi- tors under an act which disqualified all Tory practitioners." Hildreth designates Burr as "artful, affable, and fascinating," and he thus sums up the closing years of his life: Arriving in New York, he found himself, in his old age, and still harassed by his creditors, obliged to resume the practice of the law for support. The death of his only daughter, lost at sea on a voy- age from Charleston to meet him. left him with- out family ties. Yet, amid all this loneliness and embarrassment, his remarkable equanimity did not desert him, and he lived twenty-four "years longer, shrouding himself with that mystery and obscurity which he so much affected, and dying at last (1836) after surviving almost all his con- temporaries, at the age of eighty — a remarkable example of the nuitability of political fortune." His death occurred, September 14, 1836, at Port Richmond, on Staten Island, N. Y., and his body was placed with his father's in the bury- ing-ground at Princeton. Consult: Parton. L'ife of Aaron Burr (New York, 1858) ; Davis, l/cmoir.s of Aaron Burr (2 vols., New York. 1836) : the interesting Private Journals of Aaron Burr duriiif/ his Residence in Europe (2 vols.. New York, 1838), edited by Davis; and the brief sketch by Merwin, Aa'ron Burr (Boston, 1899), one of the "Beacon Biographies:" Adams, History of the United States (9 vols.. New York, 1889-91), has much useful material; also Schouler, History of the United States of Amer- ica Under the Constitution (6 vols., last edition. New York, 1899). For a strongly favorable view of Burr's life and character, consult Todd. The True Aaron Burr (New York, 1902), and for a bibliography virtually complete to date of publication, consult Tompkins, Burr Bibliogra- phy (BrooklTi, 1892). BURR, ExocH Fitch, D.D., LL.D. (1818—). An American Congregational divine. He was born at Westport, Conn., October 21, 1818; graduated at Yale College, 1839, and became ])astor at L^-me, Conn., 18.50. He lectures on the scientific evidences of religion. Of his numerous publications, all of which sold widely, nmy be mentioned Ecce Ca-lum (1867); Pater Mundi (1869) ; Ad Fidem (1871) ; Ecce Terra (1884) : Celestial Empires (188.5); Universal Beliefs (1887) ; Long Ago 0,1 Interpreted by the Yi;ie- teenth Century (1888); Supreme Things in their Practical Relations (1889) ; besides several historical stories, e.g. Aleph (n.e., 1902) and Eahius (1897). BURR, George Lincoln (1857 — ). An .merican historian. He was born at Oramel, N. Y.; graduated in 1881 at Cornell, and stud- ied at Leipzig, the Sorbonne, the Ecole des Chartes, and Zurich, in 1884-86 and 1887-88. In 1888 he was appoint^l professor of ancient and mediaeval history at Cornell. He was his- torical expert for the Venezuelan boundary com-