Fallen Founder

by Nancy Isenberg

  78. For the claim that Yrujo wrote the Gazette “queries,” see Cox, “Western Reactions to the Burr Conspiracy,” 78–79; Lomask, Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy, 76; and Joseph Wheelan, Jefferson’s Vendetta: The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary (New York, 2005), 128.

  79. See Philadelphia Aurora, Mar. 26, 1805, and another Aurora article, commenting on Burr’s recent departure west, claiming that Burr planned to run for governor of Louisiana once it became a state. This idea was dismissed as the wishful thinking of supporters of “quidism”; it was reprinted in the American Citizen, May 1, 1805. On the meaning of the Quids, see Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., “Who Were the Quids?” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50 (Sept. 1963): 253–54. And for articles associating Burr with quidism, see the Pittsburgh Commonwealth quoted in the American Citizen, Jan. 6, 1807; Philadelphia Aurora, Jan. 3, 1807; Lancaster [Pa] Intelligencer, Dec. 10, 1806, quoted in Aurora, Jan. 9, 1807; Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 9, 1806; American Citizen, Dec. 15, 20, 1806; and National Intelligencer, Jan. 12, 1807.

  80. See Lancaster [Pa] Intelligencer, Dec. 10, 1806. For example, during the 1804 governor’s election, the American Citizen reprinted an address that claimed the “nomination of Col. Burr as the first leading attempt to effect a separation of the United States.” Here Burr is associated with the New England Federalist plot of disunion, but he is also condemned for his ruthless desire for the presidency. His plan to steal the election in 1800 was a clear step toward his desire for the “dissolution of the American empire”—American Citizen, May 1, 1804.

  81. For articles connecting Federalists with Burr’s conspiracy, see American Citizen, Nov. 21, 1806; and for a list of all the Federalists (incorrectly identifies some men as Federalists who were not), see Aurora, Jan. 6, 1807.

  82. American Citizen, Sept. 17, 1804.

  83. See Anonymous. Philadelphia postmark, received Dec. 1, 1805, in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, microfilm; the second anonymous letter was sent on Dec. 5, 1805; see Abernethy, The Burr Conspiracy, 38. This letter (unlike the queries) was probably written by the Marquis de Casa Yrujo. Why? The author used the Latin spelling for Cataline (“Catalina”), which was identical to the Spanish usage. The grammatical style of this letter is completely different from the queries, indicating that Yrujo most likely did not write the “queries.”

  84. Mushkat, “Matthew Livingston Davis and the Political Legacy of Aaron Burr,” 131–34; Cornog, The Birth of Empire, 74–77; Kline, Burr Papers, II: 958. Some scholars believe that Burr and Jefferson met in Feb., while others think it was in Mar.. See “Thomas Jefferson: Memorandum of a Conversation with Burr,” Kline, Burr Papers, II: 958, 962–64, 972–73; Lomask, Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy, 106.

  85. For Burr’s view that there would be no war, see AB to Joseph Alston, Nov. 29, 180[5], in Davis, ed., Memoirs of Aaron Burr, II: 375; see also AB to James Wilkinson, Jan. 6, 1806, and AB to Andrew Jackson, Mar. 24, 1806, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 958, 956. On Jefferson’s foreign policy, see Sofka, “Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of World Politics,” 61; and McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 50. And for his dealings with Merry, see Anthony Merry to Lord Mulgrave, Nov. 25, 1805, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 943–47, and Lester, Anthony Merry, 104–08.

  86. Burr probably discussed the Bastrop property with Edward Livingston, who was one of the investors, during his visit to New Orleans in the summer of 1805. The property was tied up in legal disputes until the fall of 1805, so Burr probably did not make any definite plans for the settlement until after that date. He was discussing the plan of resettlement in Louisiana as early as December 1805, when he corresponded with Harman Blennerhassett—see Harman Blennerhassett to AB, Dec. 21, 1805, and AB to Albert Gallatin, July 31, 1806, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 950, 992–93.

  87. Marquis de Casa Yrujo to Don Pedro Cevallos, Dec. 5, 1805, Jan. 1, 1806, Feb. 13, 1806, in Henry Adams Transcripts from the Spanish State Papers: Casa Yrujo, 1801–1807, Library of Congress; see also McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 52–58, 64; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 39–40; and Lomask, Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy, 102–05.

  88. Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 40.

  89. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 870–71.

  90. Max Savelle, George Morgan: Colony Builder (New York, 1932), 203–33; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 58, 61; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1039.

  91. Savelle, George Morgan, 234–35; Kline, Burr Papers, II: 1039.

  92. American Citizen, Jan. 6, 1807 (quoting the Pittsburgh Commonwealth from an earlier date).

  93. Joshua V. H. Clark, From Onondaga; or Reminiscences of Earlier and Later Times (Syracuse, N.Y., 1849), I: 365–78; and American Citizen, Sept. 23, 1806 (quoting the Farmer’s Monitor of Herkimer, N.Y.); National Intelligencer, Nov. 18, Dec. 19, 1806.

  94. See William H. Safford, The Life of Harman Blennerhassett (1850; Freeport, N.Y., 1972), 74–75; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 66–67, 69–71; and Burstein, Passions of Andrew Jackson, 73–74. Burr placed a great deal of trust in Rachel Jackson’s nephew, Stokely Hays. See AB to Harman Blennerhassett, Dec. 20, 1806, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 6; see also Andrew Jackson to James Winchester, Oct. 4, 1806, and “Order to the Brigadier Generals of the 2nd Division,” [Oct. 4, 1806], in Moser et al., eds., The Papers of Andrew Jackson, II: 110–14.

  95. For Dearborn’s instructions to Wilkinson, to act with force and repel the Spanish in case of an invasion, see Henry Dearborn to James Wilkinson, May 6, 1806, in James Wilkinson Papers, Chicago Historical Society; see also Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 229; Holmes, “Showdown on the Sabine,” 56–57, 59–60; and Jared W. Bradley, “W. C. C. Claiborne and Spain: Foreign Affairs Under Jefferson and Madison,” Louisiana History 12 (1971): 313–14.

  96. See Wilkinson to John Adair, Sept. 28, 1806, and James Wilkinson to John Smith, Sept. 26, 1806, in McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 107, 112–14; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 142–43.

  97. AB to William Henry Harrison, Oct. 24, 1806, and, for Burr’s payment for the Bastrop property, AB to William Wilkins, Oct. 21, 1806 in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 994–98; AB to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Oct. 26, 1806, Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 6. Abernethy concludes that Burr primarily intended to have his settlers build the two roads. The importance of the roads is evident from a map that Burr sent Wilkins. See the enclosure in AB to Wilkins, Oct. 21, 1806, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 6; and Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 72, 76–77.

  98. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 998; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 80, 83.

  99. See Ronald Rayman, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky: Joseph Monfort Street and the Western World, 1806–1809,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 76 (1978): 98, 100–01.

  100. Rayman, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky,” 101–02; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 93–94.

  101. Rayman, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky,” 101, 105; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 91–92, 95.

  102. Samuel Edwards, Barbary General: The Life of William H. Eaton (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1968), 3–4, 184–85, 203, 213–18, 227, 231; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 85.

  103. For rumors connecting Granger to Burr, see American Citizen, Nov. 8, 1806; Cunningham, The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power, 226; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 85–86; Malone, Jefferson the President: Second Term, 240–41; Lomask, Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy, 109–11; and Edwards, Barbary General, 254.

  104. Jefferson’s Anas, in Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, I: 458–60.

  105. “Thomas Jefferson: Memorandum of a Conversation with Burr,” in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 962.

  106. The Anas, in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, I: 460–61.

  107. Ibid., 461–62.

  108. Ibid., 462.

  109. Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 95–96.

  110. Ibid., 96; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 999–1000.

  111. See Wilhelmy, “Senator John Smith,” 46–47; AB to H
armon Blennerhassett, Nov. 6, 1806, and AB to William Henry Harrison, Oct. 24, Nov. 27, 1806, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 996–99, 1000–06; and Moser, et al., eds., The Papers of Andrew Jackson, II: 115–16; AB to Henry Clay, Dec. 1, 1806, in Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 6. For Clay’s explanation that he felt “there might be something in the nature of his enterprise that would militate against his duty as senator—& therefore improper for him to engage as council,” see Brown, ed., William Plumer’s Memorandum, 547.

  112. Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 98–99; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1000; see “Col. Burr Before the Federal Court,” reprinted from the Western World [Dec. 18], in National Intelligencer, Jan. 12, 1807. Clay’s conviction of Burr’s innocence was genuine. Clay later told Senator William Plumer (to whom he had explained his concerns) that “his own opinion was that Mr. Burr was unjustly accused. That if there was any evidence ag[ains]t him he had not been able to discover it.” See Brown, ed., William Plumer’s Memorandum, 549.

  113. John Wood, A Full Statement of the Trial and Acquittal of Aaron Burr, esq.: containing, all the proceedings and debates that took place before the federal court at Frankfort, Kentucky, November 25, 1806 (Alexandria, Va., 1807), 34–35; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 99; Raymon, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky,” 108; McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 162.

  114. Samuel M. Wilson, “The Court Proceedings of 1806 in Kentucky Against Aaron Burr and John Adair,” Filson Club History Quarterly 10 (1936): 39–40; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 99; “Col. Burr Before the Federal Court.”

  115. “Col. Burr Before the Federal Court;” Raymon, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky,” 108.

  116. Raymon, “Frontier Journalism in Kentucky,” 110; see also Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, A View of the President’s Conduct, Concerning the Conspiracy of 1806 (Frankfort, Ky., 1807), 24, 28.

  117. Holmes, “Showdown on the Sabine,” 65.

  118. James Workman, A Letter to the Respectable Citizens, inhabitants of the county of Orleans: together with several letters to His Excellency Governor Claiborne, and other documents relative to the extraordinary measures lately pursued in this territory (New Orleans, 1807), v; see also Henry Carey, Chrononhotonthologos, the Most Tragical Tragedy that ever was Tragedized by any Company of Tragedians (London, 1743).

  119. On Machiavelli and deception, see Wendy Brown, Manhood and Politics: A Feminist Reading in Political Theory (Totowa, N.J., 1988), 84, 96, 101–04, 115.

  120. James Wilkinson to Thomas Jefferson, Oct. 20, 1806 (and enclosed report), Burr Conspiracy Papers, Library of Congress; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 150–52.

  121. Smith deposition in James Wilkinson, Memoirs of my own Times, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1816), II: 94.

  122. Machiavelli employed the fox as his symbol for justifying the political need for using deception. And he advised that the “best fox” does not simply avoid snares, he sets them. This captures Wilkinson’s approach for dealing with Burr perfectly. See Ruth Weissbourd Grant, Hypocrisy and Integrity: Machiavelli, Rousseau and the Ethics of Politics (Chicago, 1999), 24. See also Brown, Manhood and Politics, 106–07, 115.

  123. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 974, 985.

  124. See cipher letter, To James Wilkinson [July 22–29], in Kline, ed, Burr Papers, II: 975, 983–84, 86–97.

  125. James Wilkinson to Colonel Freeman, Nov. 7, 1806, and to Colonel Cushing, Nov. 7, 1806, in Wilkinson, Memoirs, II: 99; James Wilkinson to Governor Claiborne, Nov. 12, 1806, in Rowland, Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne (Jackson, Miss., 1917), IV: 55–56; and McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 135–36, 139–40.

  126. James Wilkinson to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 12, 1806, in Wilkinson, Memoirs, II: 100; McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 181–82.

  127. McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 175–76; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 174; Edward Livingston, Faithful Picture of the Political Situation in New Orleans (Boston, 1808), 14–15. See also report on meeting in Washington Federalist, Jan. 17, 1807.

  128. Livingston, A Faithful Picture, 18–21; see also account from the New Orleans Gazette, Dec. 30, 1806, in Washington Federalist, Feb. 11, 1807; and Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 178–79, 196.

  129. Livingston, A Faithful Picture, 23, 27, 31–33; see Judge James Workman’s letters to Claiborne in Workman, A Letter to the Respectable Citizens, 2–3, 7–8, 17–18, 28–29; McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 186–87.

  130. President Jefferson’s Proclamation of Nov. 27, 1806, in Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, VIII: 481; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 188, 190.

  131. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 982; “Special Message to Congress, Jan. 22, 1807,” in Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, IX: 14–20, esp. 14–15.

  132. “Special Message to Congress,” in Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, IX: 16; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 982–83.

  133. See Supplemental Journal of Such Proceedings of the First Session of the Fifth General Assembly of the State of Ohio, as during the time they were depending, were considered confidential (Chillicothe, Ohio, 1806), 1–2, 23, 41–42; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 105–08; Lomask, Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy, 186–92; and McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 204–09. See also report with rumors of Burr’s army of 20,000 sent from Cincinnati, Dec. 23, published in the National Intelligencer, Jan. 16, 1806; and Safford, Life of Harmon Blennerhassett, 112; and Swick, An Island Called Eden, 42–43.

  134. AB to Cowles Mead, Jan. 12, 1807, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1007–09.

  135. See Aurora, Jan. 22, 1807; and “Special Message to Congress,” in Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, IX: 15; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 175, 218; Isaac Cox, The West Florida Controversy, 1798–1813 (Baltimore, 1918), 202–03; McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 230.

  CHAPTER NINE

  1. See the exchange of letters between Burr and Cowles Mead and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jan. 12–16, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1008–16. The search party found few weapons: three muskets, six fusees, eleven rifles, two blunderbusses, thirteen brace of pistols, and five swords. For the trunks of books, see letter from Washington, M.T., Jan. 19, in National Intelligencer, Feb. 23, 1807; and “Extract of letter from Cowles Mead, secretary and acting governor of the Mississippi Territory, to the department of war, dated Washington, M.T. Jan. 19th, 1807,” in the American Citizen, Feb. 24, 1807.

  2. For a report on the grand jury verdict, see the Mississippi Messenger, Feb. 27, 1807, reprinted in Third Annual Report of the Director of the Department of Archives and History of the State of Mississippi, Oct. 1, 1903–Oct. 1, 1904 (Nashville, Tenn., 1905), 101; and National Intelligencer, Mar. 18, 1807. See also T. A. Smith, Lt., to General Wilkinson, Feb. 1807, James Wilkinson Papers, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago; and Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 217–18.

  3. See AB to Robert Williams [Feb. 7, 1807] and Feb. 12, 1807, and Robert Williams to AB, Feb. 13, 1807, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1022–24; Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 218–19. See also Report of army officers, under order of Wilkinson to arrest Burr, from Washington, Miss., Feb. 16, 1807, in James Wilkinson Papers; and Cox, The West Florida Controversy, 1798–1813, 202–03.

  4. For the most accurate account of Burr’s capture, see Nicholas Perkins to C. A. Rodney, Statement relating to the capture of Aaron Burr [1807], Nicholas Perkins Papers, Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville, Tenn. This document is reprinted in Stuart O. Stumpf, ed., “The Arrest of Aaron Burr: A Documentary Record,” Alabama Historical Quarterly (Fall & Winter 1980): 113–23, esp. 117–18.

  5. “The Arrest of Aaron Burr,” 118–19.

  6. Ibid., 119; see also The Examination of Aaron Burr before the Chief Justice of the United States: upon the charges of high misdemeanor, and of treason against the United States; together with the arguments of counsel and opinion of the judge (Richmond, Va., 1807), 4.

  7. “The Arrest of Aaron Burr,” 119–20. For one of the first newspaper acc
ounts to describe his arrest in more dramatic terms, see Richmond Enquirer, Mar. 27, 1807.

  8. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1026.

  9. See “The Arrest of Aaron Burr,” 121–22; and copy of letter sent by Edmund P. Gaines to General James Wilkinson and Governor Robert Williams, Feb. 19, 1807, and Edmund P. Gaines to Nicholas Perkins, Feb. 19, 1807, in “The Capture of Aaron Burr,” American Historical Magazine (Jan. 1896): 146–48. See also “The following extract of a letter from Lt. Gaines, dated Fort Stoddert, Feb. 22, 1807, furnishes some interesting circumstances relative to the arrest of Aaron Burr,” National Intelligencer, Apr. 8, 1807; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1026–27.

  10. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1028.

  11. “The Arrest of Aaron Burr,” 123; The Examination of Aaron Burr, 4.

  12. “The Arrest of Aaron Burr,” 114; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 1029; and John Randolph to Joseph H. Nicholson, Mar. 25, 1807, in McColley, ed., John Randolph, 147. And for the two descriptions sent to Jefferson, see William Tatham to Thomas Jefferson, Mar. 27, 1807, and Caesar A. Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, Mar. 27, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress.

  13. For the reference to Burr’s capture being more exciting than the “page of romance,” see National Intelligencer, Apr. 1, 1807; for the debate on Burr’s disguise, see Richmond Enquirer, Apr. 21, 1807; and for the reference to “old Virginia leggins,” see William Tatham to Thomas Jefferson, Mar. 27, 1807.

  14. Return J. Meigs, who issued the warrant for Blennerhassett’s arrest, claimed that around fifty men fled from the island, but other reports set the number of men at thirty. See “Extract of a letter from Return J. Meigs, Esq.,” dated Marietta, Dec. 17, in American Citizen, Jan. 6, 1807; and Abernethy, Burr Conspiracy, 108.

  15. For reports of French transporting arms, see “Extract of a letter, dated Cincinnati, Nov. 24, 1806,” and another report about Burr arriving in Cincinnati at the same time as the French men, in National Intelligencer, Dec. 24, 1806; and for a report of 20,000 men, see report from Cincinnati, Dec. 23, in National Intelligencer, Jan. 16, 1807. For the governor’s message to the assembly, which also reported on the French men carrying arms, and the heavily armed flotilla on Blennerhassett Island, see Supplemental Journal of Such Proceedings of the Fifth General Assembly of the State of Ohio, 1–2, 41–42; and for the governor’s messages in the newspapers, National Intelligencer, Dec. 29, 1806. For the rumors of Blennerhassett publishing treasonous articles, see “Mr. Burr,” in American Citizen, Mar. 19, 1807; and for Blennerhassett as a Irish royalist, see “Cognitions,” in the National Intelligencer, Dec. 5, 1806.