Many Americans may know the name of Aaron Burr, though not much more. But in 1807, the prosecution of Burr was a very big deal. Imagine: a former vice president of the United States on trial for treason!
So R. Kent Newmyer, professor of law and history at the University of Connecticut, has quite a story to tell, and he tells it well. The tale involves three men—Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, and John Marshall—drawn almost fatefully together out of mutual dislike, even loathing. Around them is a large supporting cast—some of whom remain shadowy while others, most notably the lawyers at Burr’s trial, are brought successfully to life in Newmyer’s account.
The trial revolved around Burr’s mysterious activities on America’s Western frontier. Either he was intent on dislodging Spain from Mexico (though perhaps only in the event of a declared war), or on provoking the secession of the Western states from the Union. Newmyer wonders “if Burr himself really knew for sure what he planned to do” beyond resurrecting his own relevance to American life, and finding fame and fortune in the enticing Southwest. So widely mistrusted was Burr by many of his contemporaries—John Adams memorably called him the man who “must and would be something”—that President Jefferson suspected the worst. As did most Americans: The “packed courtroom often verged on chaos,” writes Newmyer.
For many, the trial of a humbled blueblood such as Burr was first-class entertainment. According to one young witness, “the crowd soon divided into partisan rooting sections, with the preponderance of the ladies on Burr’s side of the courtroom.” Lawyers on both sides sought to play to public sentiment in hopes of burnishing their own reputations and influencing the verdict.
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