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January 21, 2025 7 mins

Some people are wildly talented but just can’t get out of the way of their own ego and ambition. Take Aaron Burr. He destroyed his political career by killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, went on to treasonously plot a land grab to create his own empire, and wound up dying alone in a boarding house on Staten Island. 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right. You know, as long as our country has
been around, there have been groups out there that wanted
to secede from the United States. Are you surprised? Right now?
There are at least a dozen states with active movements
looking to detach their state from the US and form
their own nation. But it almost happened, and the star
of the story was a guy more famous for another

(00:22):
political battle. I'm Patty Steele. Aaron Burr and his plan
to start his own empire. Next on the backstory, The
backstory is back. What do you know about Aaron Burr?
You probably are familiar with his run in with founding
father Alexander Hamilton. After some very public name calling, Burr,

(00:45):
than the vice president under Thomas Jefferson, challenged Hamilton to
a duel. Didn't end well for Hamilton, who died from
his wounds a day later, and it didn't end particularly
well for Burr, whose political career never recovered. But he
had a play. He wanted to carve out his own
empire in the West. Sounds like the plot of a

(01:05):
Netflix drama, doesn't it. Well, it really happened. It's the
story of how Burr went from political powerhouse to alleged trader,
though they were never able to prove that in court. Okay,
it's seventeen fifty six. Aaron Burr is born into a
big deal New Jersey family. He's smart, charming, and ambitious.

(01:26):
His political career takes off. He's a senator by the
age of thirty five and vice president just ten years later.
But then along came that pesky eighteen oh four murderous
duel with Alexander Hamilton. His ego derailed his ambitions. So
what came next? The Burr Conspiracy. He knew that after

(01:47):
the duel his political career was toast. Hamilton's death made
him a pariah in Washington, and even Jefferson, his President,
turned his back on him. Burn needed a fresh start,
and he set his so on something ambitious, even a
little borderline delusional. Aaron Burr wanted to create his own
empire in the American West. So what was the plan. Well,

(02:12):
his vision involved carving out a new independent nation, maybe
including parts of the Louisiana territory and even parts of Mexico.
Insiders said he dreamed of being crowned emperor of this
new land. But maybe he just wanted to break off
a little chunk of the United States and rule it.
It's a big dream and also wildly illegal. He had

(02:35):
co conspirators too, General James Wilkinson was a master schemer
with a talent for playing both sides, even working as
a paid agent for Spain while serving in the US military.
And Burr even chatted with Anthony Mary, the British Minister
to the US, telling him that Britain could regain power
in the Southwest by giving him arms and ammo for

(02:58):
his plan. Even offer to several Louisiana from the Union
if they gave him half a million bucks and put
a British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. Mary told
him the powers in London had zero interest in supporting
an American secession. Finally, with the help of a very
very rich Irish immigrant, Byrd did put together an army

(03:20):
of settlers, adventurers, and disillusioned soldiers, promising them land and
power in the new Empire. He tried to sell his
plan as a way to defend American interests in the West,
but rumors started swirling about what he was really up to.
Stories were published that exposed his plans to build his
empire in the West. It wasn't completely clear what he

(03:43):
was trying to do. Was he planning to invade Spanish
held territory for the US or plotting to break off
that chunk of the country and declare independence. Word was.
He met with a Spanish diplomat and told him his
ultimate goal was to march on one Washington and take over.
Unfortunately for Burr, like the British, the Spanish didn't want

(04:06):
to get involved in his grand plan. But then it
turned out that General James Wilkinson thought the plot was doomed,
and he flipped sides. He sent a letter to President
Jefferson warning him about Burr's plot, while Jefferson thought the
accusations were politically motivated. Charges were brought against Burr, although
a grand jury refused to indicte But by the middle

(04:28):
of eighteen oh six, Jefferson in his cabinet took a
serious look and Burr's plan unraveled. Almost overnight. Wilkinson turned
on him completely, sending Jefferson a heavily doctored letter between
himself and Burr that outlined his plans but made Wilkinson
look innocent. He was brought to trial in one of
the most sensational events of the early eighteen hundreds. The

(04:52):
prosecution had to prove that Burr had committed an overt
act of treason. But here's the catch. His troops never
carried any military action because they were caught before they
were able to. During the trial, Burr was charming, eloquent,
and completely confident in his ability to sway the jury.
He'd been a Revolutionary War hero and an ex vice president,

(05:15):
plus he had amazing lawyers. The government's case fell apart
when the defense uncovered the doctoring of the most damning
letter between Wilkinson and Burr. The defense painted Wilkinson as
the real villain. He had rewritten the letter in his
own handwriting that dummy, so Burr managed to deny having
written it at all. The chief justice in the case

(05:40):
had set a high bar for what constituted treason, insisting
the prosecution had to prove an overt act of war
against the US. Burr, again, hero of the Revolutionary War,
was trusted over a guy who had doctored evidence. The
jury found Burd not guilty, and he walked free, but
his reputation was completely shattered. The trial was a media circus,

(06:05):
like a modern day celebrity scandal, and he was done.
After the trial, Burr's life took a nosedive. He fled
to Europe, where he spent years trying to drum up
support for many other schemes, even trying to convince Napoleon
to help him invade Mexico, but no dice there. Eventually
he came back to America at the age of seventy seven.

(06:28):
He married a much younger, wealthy widow, but she divorced
him after a few years because he started losing her
money in bad land deals. He finally died in a
boarding house on Staten Island at the age of eighty,
never becoming the Emperor he dreamed of being. Aaron. Burr's
ambition and ego brought him a lot of early success,

(06:49):
but his inability to play by the rules torpedoed all
of it. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele.
I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for
free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free

(07:10):
to DM me if you have a story you'd like
me to cover. On Facebook, of course it's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

(07:34):
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
know you needed to know.
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Host

Patty Steele

Patty Steele

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