22 January 1807 A.D.
President Thomas Jefferson Exposed Plot by Aaron
Burr to Form New Republic in the Southwest
Editor. “1807 – President Thomas Jefferson exposed a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new
republic in the Southwest.” This Day in U.S.
Military History. N.d. https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/january-22/. Accessed 21 Jan 2015.
1807 – President Thomas
Jefferson exposed a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new republic in the Southwest.
In the course of the New York gubernatorial campaign of 1804, Alexander
Hamilton had made derogatory remarks about Burr, who responded with a
challenge. On July 11 the two men exchanged shots at Weehawken, N.J., and
Hamilton was mortally wounded. A fugitive from the law in both New York and New
Jersey, Burr fled to Philadelphia, where he and Jonathan Dayton, a former U.S.
senator from New Jersey, developed the grandiose scheme that was to prove
Burr’s downfall. Just what the plans were and whether they were treasonous are
uncertain, for Burr told different stories to different people. In its most
ambitious form the scheme envisaged a vast empire in the West and South, based
on the conquest of Mexico and the separation of the trans-Appalachian states
from the Union. This much Burr told the British minister, of whom he asked
financial and naval aid. Burr then proceeded to Washington to finish his term
as vice president. Jefferson received him cordially, for Burr as vice president
was to preside over the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel
Chase, and the President wanted a conviction. The Chase impeachment failed, but
Burr’s conduct of the trial was a model of decorum and impartiality. The trial
and the vice-presidential term concluded, Burr returned to his schemes. He made
a personal reconnaissance of the West in the spring of 1805. It probably was on
this trip that he first met Harman Blennerhassett, an Irish expatriate who
lived in feudal splendor on an island in the Ohio River. He also visited James
Wilkinson, now governor of the Louisiana Territory, and several other
government dignitaries. Burr next acquired title to more than a million acres
of land in Orleans Territory, the settlement of which thereafter became his
ostensible purpose. Funds were supplied by his son-in-law, Joseph Alston, and
by Blennerhassett. By the summer of 1806, boats, supplies, and men were being
procured, mainly at Blennerhassett Island. Satisfied, Burr and some 60
followers set out to join Wilkinson near Natchez, Miss. Coded letters from Burr
and Dayton already were on the way to Wilkinson alerting him to be ready to
move on Mexico. The preparations openly being made seemed too extensive for the
avowed purpose, giving substance to rumors that approached the truth. To
protect himself, Burr demanded an investigation. With young Henry Clay as his
attorney, he twice was cleared of any treasonable intent. At this point,
however, General Wilkinson decided to betray his friend. He wrote to the
president, who issued a proclamation calling for the arrest of the
conspirators. Burr learned of it on Jan. 10, 1807, as he entered Orleans
Territory, then saw a newspaper transcript of his coded letter to Wilkinson. He surrendered to civil
authorities at Natchez, but jumped bail and fled toward Spanish Florida.
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