Burr conspiracy

The ’’‘Burr conspiracy’’’ was a suspected treasonous “cabal” of planters, politicians and army officers led by former vice president Aaron Burr. According to the accusations against him, Burr’s goal was to create an independent nation in the center of North America and/or the Southwest and parts of Mexico. Burr’s explaination: To take possession of, and farm, 40,000 acres in the Texas Territory leased to him by the Spanish. When the expected war with Spain broke out, he would fight with his armed “farmers,” to seize any lands he could conquer in the war–all legal by rules of warfare. (Note:this was before the Lousiana Purchase had been officially accepted by the U.S. Government as a territory. Jefferson was having second thoughts about absorbing it into the union. Any taking of that land by an American at that time would not have been unconstitutional or even illegal.) Jefferson and others had Burr arrested and indicted for treason with no firm evidence put forward. He stood trial in Richmond, Virginia for treason because of the alleged conspiracy but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. A Revolutionary War hero, U.S. Senator, New York Attorney General and Assemblyman, and finally Vice President under Jefferson, Burr adamently denied and vehemently resented all charges against his honor,his character or his patriotism, which, by the way, was his reason for challenging Alexander Hamilton to the fateful duel in 1804.

Background and plan

After being charged for the murder of Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, Aaron Burr fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to escape arrest. Later on he conceived plans to emigrate, he always claimed, to take possession of land in the Texas Territories leased to him by the Spanish. (The lease was granted, and copies still exist.)Burr’s true intentions are still considered ambiguous to some historians, who claim he intended to take parts of Texas and some or all of the Louisiana Purchase for himself. They claim Burr envisioned a new empire in the West over which he would rule. This historically unproven version of a conspiracy by Burr to take American land is still in print in many biographies, encyclopedias, and even history books. Letters written to this version can be found in letters by contemporaries who distrusted Burr, but no solid evidence can be found. Burr did meet with the British Foreign Minister, Andrew Merry, and, as he explained to several of his collegues, implied that the British might regain power in the Southwest if they contributed money to his expedition. Merry gave him fifteen-hundred dollars and never saw him again. A man of few words, Burr was good at implying much without actually committing himself–“smoke and mirrors”–a trait that infuriated many of his contemporaries.

Players

James Wilkinson: James Wilkinson was one of Burr’s most important co-conspirators. Though it was eventually discovered that his involvement in the conspiracy was most likely an attempt to further his own personal and political goals, he worked closely with Burr to develop a plan for secession. The commanding General of the Army at the time, Wilkinson was known for his corrupt practices, including his attempt to separate Kentucky and Tennessee from the union during the 1780’s. Burr persuaded President Thomas Jefferson to appoint Wilkinson to position of Governor of Territory of Louisiana. Wilkinson would later come to betray Burr by revealing his plot to Jefferson and denying all involvement in the conspiracy. William Eaton charged that Wilkinson had attempted to involve him in the conspiracy.
Anthony Merry: In 1805, when his term as Vice President ended, Burr met with Anthony Merry, the British Minister to the United States. Burr offered to detach Louisiana from the Union in exchange for a half a million dollars and a British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. Merry considered following through with the deal; however, those with whom he worked in London expressed no interest in furthering American secessionism.
Harman Blennerhassett: Blennerhasset proved a valuable tool in helping Burr further his plan. He provided friendship, support, and most importantly access to the island that he owned on the Ohio River,about 2 miles below what is now Parkersburg, West Virginia. Burr and his co-conspirators used this island as a storage space for men and supplies.

Events

In 1805, Burr went west in order to recruit volunteers to enter Spanish territories. In New Orleans, he met with the Mexican Associates, a group of ’’criollos’’ whose objective was to conquer Mexico. Burr was able to gain the support of New Orleans’ Catholic bishop for his expedition into Mexico.

In 1806, Burr went back west to recruit more volunteers for a military expedition down the Mississippi River. Here he recruited Blennerhassett and began using his island to store men and supplies. The Governor of Ohio grew suspicious of the activity on the island, and ordered the state militia to raid the island and seize all supplies. Blennerhasset managed to escape with one boat, and he met up with Burr at the operation’s Headquarters on the Cumberland River. With a significantly smaller force, the two headed down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and New Orleans. Wilkinson had vowed to supply troops at New Orleans; however, he had come to the conclusion that the conspiracy was bound to fail, and rather than providing these troops, Wilkinson revealed Burr’s plan to President Jefferson.

Arrest

In February and March, 1806, Jo Daveiss, United States District Attorney for Kentucky wrote Jefferson several letters warning him of possible conspiratorial activities by Burr. Daveiss’ July 14 letter to Jefferson stated flatly that Burr planned to provoke a rebellion in Spanish-held parts of the West in order to join them to areas in the Southwest to form an independent nation under his rule. Similar accusations were appearing against local Republicans in a Frankfort, Kentucky newspaper, Western World, and Jefferson dismissed Daveiss’s accusations against Burr, a Republican, as politically motivated.

Rumors of political instability in the West caught Jefferson’s attention, and his suspicions were confirmed when Wilkinson sent him correspondence received from Burr. In an attempt to preserve his innocence and career, Wilkinson edited these correspondences. He warned Jefferson that Burr was “meditating the overthrow of [his] administration” and “conspiring against the State.” Jefferson alerted Congress of the plan, and ordered the arrest of anyone who conspired to attack Spanish territory. He warned authorities in the West to be aware of suspicious activities. Convinced of Burr’s guilt, Jefferson ordered his arrest. Burr surrendered to local authorities.

Trial

Burr was charged with treason for assembling an armed force to take New Orleans and separate the Western from the Atlantic states. He was also charged with high misdemeanor for sending a military expedition against territories belonging to Spain. The high misdemeanor charge was dropped when the government was unable to prove that the expedition had been military or directed towards Spanish territory.

Burr’s trial brought into question the ideas of executive privilege and the independence of the executive. Burr’s lawyers asked Chief Justice John Marshall to subpoena Jefferson, claiming that they needed documents from Jefferson in order to accurately present their case. Jefferson proclaimed that as President, he reserved the right to decide “what papers coming to him as President, the public interests permit to be communicated [and] to whom.” He insisted that all relevant papers had been made available, and that he was not subject to this writ because he held executive privilege. He also argued that he should not be subject to the commands of the judiciary, because the constitution guaranteed the executive branch’s independence from the judicial branch. Marshall sided with Burr, deciding that the subpoena could be issued despite Jefferson’s position of presidency. Though Marshall vowed to consider Jefferson’s office and avoid “vexatious and unnecessary subpoenas,” his ruling was significant because it suggested that like all citizens, the President was subject to the law.

Burr’s case required Marshall to consider the definition of treason. It raised the question of whether or not intent was enough to convict someone of treason. Marshall ruled that because Burr had not committed an act of war, he could not be found guilty. Because the First Amendment guaranteed Burr the right to voice opposition to the government, “merely suggesting war or engaging in a conspiracy was not enough to require a conviction.” In order to be convicted of treason, Marshall ruled, an overt act of participation must be proven with evidence. Intention to divide the union was not an overt act: “There must be an actual assembling of men for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levying of war.” A strict constructionist, Marshall further supported his decision by indicating that the Constitution stated that two witnesses must see the same overt act against the country.

Background and plan

Players

Events

Arrest

Trial

Further reading