Alexander Hamilton is one of the most influential people in United States history. A revolutionary, a Founding Father who poured his energies into promoting the nascent constitution as the great country first found her feet, he was also a man of honor, noble and principled.
And of course his principles saw him clash with those who disagreed with him throughout his life. Dueling was often the way of settling disputes in the old times that involved weapons and fights between such men of honor.
Many great disputes have had bloody ends due to dueling in the past, and Hamilton knew of the dangers of dueling. It is believed that he was challenged to duels through his life as many as a dozen times, but he had the good sense to refuse to fight each one.
But, in 1804, he chose differently. This duel, the last and only that Hamilton ever fought, was against Aaron Burr the Vice President of the United States. And it would go down in history.
The Hamilton-Burr Duel
The gruesome and lethal duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr occurred on July 11, 1804. The duel happened at Weehawken, New Jersey, a popular spot for such occurrences and where these two political opponents would now fight to settle long draw disputes of political and personal nature. By the time the duel was over, Hamilton was wounded mortally, and Burr was deemed a murderer.
Hamilton was a Federalist, and Burr was a Republican. The men were known political rivals and had hostile sentiments toward each other. Their political rivalry had gone on for a lot of time.
The first signs of political skirmish arose between the two in 1791, over a decade prior. Burr had captured a senate seat from Philip Schuyler, who was the father-in-law of Hamilton. The Schuyler family was a powerful political family in the United States, and Hamilton was also part of it by marriage.
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Alexander Hamilton himself was at this time the Secretary of the Treasury and depended on his father-in-law for political support. However, when Burr took Schuyler’s seat, Hamilton lost crucial support at the expense of Burr.
In the year 1800, Burr obtained and published the book The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President of the United States. Alexander Hamilton had authored this book, and he had intended to keep it private circulation.
The book was a critical document that turned out to be very controversial as it was about another Federalist, John Adams. The book’s public circulation led to the creation and widening of a rift in the Federalist party. Hamilton blamed Burr, and the political skirmish between the two opponents sharpened considerably.
That same year when there was a tie in the Congress between the two Republicans, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton played a huge role in deciding the presidential election in favor of Jefferson. Although the rules of the tie meant Burr became Vice President, he felt that Hamilton had cheated him of his presidency.
Hamilton played an active part in lobbying Congress against Burr, and it is believed that Hamilton might have indeed been the deciding reason for the election of Thomas Jefferson as the President. Even if this was not so, Burr’s animosity for Hamilton increased.
The Final Fight
The New York Governor’s race in 1804 made things very serious between the two opponents. Things got so heated during the election that the two opponents resorted to violence. During the election, Burr deserted the Republican party and fought for the Governor’s post as an Independent.
Burr believed that he had a strong chance of winning, and if he won, he would be able to regain the power lost to the Republicans. Burr was openly opposed by Hamilton, who never trusted him. Burr being in a power position in the city council mortified Hamilton to a great extent.
Hamilton tried to convince his fellow Federalists not to support Burr in the Governor’s race. Hamilton was not the only deciding factor, but with his interference Burr could not win the Governor’s race. The Republican campaign crushed the Burr campaign, and Burr would not become the Governor of New York.
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After the Governor’s race, both the opponents had bruised egos and were trying to slight each other. However, compared to the Governor’s race and other political battles, it was a minor inconvenience which led to the deadly duel.
In February 1804, Hamilton attended a dinner party where he spoke profusely against Burr. The dinner party was also attended by a Republican, Dr Charles D. Cooper, who said that Hamilton expressed a very despicable opinion about Aaron Burr. All this was written in Cooper’s letter to Philip Schuyler. The letter was later published in an American newspaper, the Albany Register.
When Aaron Burr came across this article, he was furious and felt that Hamilton was responsible for his ruined political career. To avenge his bad reputation and to resurrect his dying political career, and out of spite towards Hamilton, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel.
Hamilton was not particularly in favor of a duel, and had swerved them often enough in the past. He wanted to avoid a duel but could not because it would have cost his political honor. If he had declined the offer, he would have lost his honor, but admitting to Burr’s charge and taking the duel also had no good results. The duel eventually cost Hamilton his career, and his life.
Hamilton and Burr had seconds who tried to settle the matter amicably. However, they failed to do so, and the duel went ahead on July 11, 1804. When the two political enemies met on the grounds, each fired a .56 caliber dueling pistol shot. Hamilton missed deliberately with his bullet, but Hamilton himself was not so lucky.
Struck by the bullet, Hamilton fell to the ground with a mortal wound. The next day, Alexander Hamilton died. While Burr thought that a successful duel would revive his failing political career, the opposite was true.
The duel resulted in Burr being accused of the murder of Alexander Hamilton, and he was charged with murder in both New York and New Jersey. After Aaron Burr finished his term as the vice president, he was never elected to political office again. His rash action had destroyed both of them.
Top Image: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr face off in the deadly duel which would change US history forever. Source: Unknown Author / Public Domain.
By Bipin Dimri
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