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CHAPTER XXXVII

AARON BURR IN KENTUCKY

The excitement incident to the closure of the Mississippi River and the subsequent purchase of Louisiana had scarcely subsided when Kentucky was thrown into tumult again. The Burr episode was to be the final affliction to be visited on the state, growing out of those conditions and from the general atmosphere which had made possible the long course of foreign intrigues and conspiracies that had beset the West from the days of the Revolution. This test of loyalty to the Union and stability in political aspirations and connections was to prove again and for all time that the satisfaction and contentment of the people relative to Federal affairs, lately expressed, still held and that no will-o'-the-wisp could lead them astray.

One of the most interesting characters in American history was Aaron Burr. In the presidential election of 1800 he had come within one vote of being elected President of the United States. This work of the fates awakened in him new and unholy ambitions. The struggle in Congress which resulted in his defeat for an office for which the people had never intended him laid the beginnings of Burr's subsequent career. Disliked and neglected by Jefferson, he soon fell into disrepute with a majority. of his own party and in the Presidential election of 1804 he was dropped by his party in the nominations. Depending on his own independent following aided by the Federalists generally he ran for the Governorship of New York. Due largely to the powerful opposition of Hamilton he was defeated. The campaign had waxed hot, and in its stress the natural antipathy between Burr and Hamilton was intensified. The result was a challenge for a duel, which Burr by a line of reasoning developed in a short correspondence, forced upon Hamilton. The death of Hamilton was a shock to the country; and despite the general support of the code duelo, Burr was indicted in both New York and New Jersey.

By his act Burr had removed his most hated personal and political enemy; but at the same time he virtually terminated his own political career in the East. His outlook on life was now completely changed. Burr was still young and vigorous, and his ambitions needed only to be changed to conform with his new circumstances. What he should do and where he should do it were not evident at once; and the stability and integrity of his character were not sufficiently strong to force him into any definite line of procedure. The impossibility of determining certainly what he finally planned to do is predicated on the fact that he himself was never decided. He saw numerous possibilities in an unsettled situation and he was determined to do whatever presented itself as most feasible. He was in fact an opportunist.

To him the West was yet a region where daring and reckless leadership still might accomplish much. And it was likely this region he had in mind when he wrote Governor Allston of South Carolina. "In New York I am to be disfranchised, in New Jersey hanged. Having substantial objections to both I shall not * hazard either, but shall seek another country." The recent transfer of Louisiana had left a 1 Quoted in McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation's History, 278, 279.

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feeling of bitterness and passive opposition in the great bulk of its population who were mostly French, and who had no sympathy for Anglo-Saxon institutions. There was also an element of discontent in New Orleans who were using this place as a base for a possible descent upon the Mexican provinces of Spain, to set up there an independent government. The doom of the power of decadent Spain in the New World was looked to by many of the adventuresome classes as a certainty of the near future. In addition to these forces of uncertainty, there was the lingering feeling among some that in the West apart from recently acquired Louisiana there was present a discontent sufficiently widespread and persistent as to admit of manipulation. Burr surveyed the situation, and came to the conclusion that here existed his opportunities for further action.

Possessed of a mind able to see and provide for the far-flung possibilities relative to some sort of a western scheme, Burr had communications with the British minister to the United States, Anthony Merry, for the purpose of enlisting the aid of the British fleet. For apparently directly opposite purposes, he approached the Spanish minister; but in fact it appears to have been a plan to wring money from Spain as insurance against designs directed at Spanish territory, which Burr was secretly entertaining as one of his contemplated schemes.

In the early part of 1805, he started on a trip to the West to survey the situation and its possibilities and to lay the foundations for his future action. At Pittsburg he met up with his old friend, General Wilkinson, now Commander-in-chief of the United States Army and governor of the Territory of Louisiana, which included all of the Louisiana purchase north of the 33rd parallel. Wilkinson's career of intrigue in the West made him an interesting and valuable counselor. What was mentioned in their conversations is not known; but Wilkinson invited Burr to make the trip down the Ohio with him. Due to other arrangements Burr declined. The latter had not gone far down the Ohio before he was joined by Matthew Lyon, who had won martyrdom in his opposition to the Sedition Act. Lyon, in discussing western conditions with Burr, referred to the fact that residence in Tennessee was not required of candidates to represent that state in Congress. This opened the possibility to Burr of becoming a leader of the West in the nation's councils, either for honest purposes or for attaining a position of vantage in disunion schemes. He floated by Marietta, stopping for a short while, and continued his journey a dozen miles further to a beautiful island which had been cleared by Herman Blennerhassett, an Irishman, and a mansion unrivaled in the whole western country erected. Here he met and captivated Mrs. Blennerhassett. Blennerhassett, himself, was absent, but the beginnings were now laid for a later acquaintance with him and his enlistment in the enterprise. Burr left the Ohio at Cincinnati, where he spent a short time making the acquaintance of the prominent people.

He now departed southward into Kentucky. The visit to the West of so illustrious a character as Aaron Burr, former vice-president of the United States, could not help but attract widespread and favorable attention. The fact that he had killed Hamilton could bring him but little blame in this region. In fact the anti-Federalist West could with little. difficulty add praises and appreciations for this very reason. But the name of Burr was not universally acclaimed in Kentucky. It had not yet been forgotten how he had almost robbed the people of their first great victory in 1800. The supremacy of the democrats had been placed in jeopardy at the very outset by the overweening ambitions of one man.

2 W. F. McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy (New York, 1903), 25. This is a painstaking and excellent treatment of the whole subject.

A semi-hostile feeling against Burr following 1800 is unmistakably seen in the toasts at Fourth of July celebrations and on other occasions, and in articles in the Kentucky Gazette.3 At a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, this toast was offered: "Aaron Burr-May his successors never misinterpret the votes of the people." The knowledge of this feeling toward Burr as well as the intelligence of Kentucky's satisfaction with the Union seems to have spread to the East; for one of his agents in estimating Western conditions, put down Kentucky as unfavorable to any scheme of separation. He added, however, that she would be coerced if she resisted.5

Burr reached Frankfort on May 25th. Reports of his coming had preceded him, and gave use to considerable speculation as to his purpose. It was rumored among some that he was interested in opening a canal around the falls in the Ohio, a subject that was agitating the people considerably at this time; while among the less-informed classes, it was believed he had been appointed governor of the Territory of Louisiana and was now on his way out to assume his duties." He stayed while here with John Brown, who had been a member of the United States Senate over which Burr had presided. By previous arrangements it had been determined that he should be a guest of Brown's while in Frankfort. Burr courted none of the display that would seem to have been expected on the visit of so eminent a character; rather he made himself inconspicuous in the straggling Kentucky capital. One of his purposes in this visit was to secure letters of introduction to certain men of prominence in Tennessee; besides this, he must also have had in mind the enlisting of certain Kentuckians in some scheme, however hazy it may have been at this time.

At some time during this trip to the West, Burr interested General John Adair, who was at this time register of the land office in Frankfort. Adair had had an adventuresome career from the Revolution, in which he took part, on down through the Indian wars of the Old Northwest. The fires of wars with rich plunder still burned in his soul, and he had dreams of a Spanish Eldorado awaiting those who should give tottering Spain the final blow. He was well-known to Wilkinson and had no doubt been influenced in his ambitions by this master of intrigue. In 1804, he wrote Wilkinson concerning some grandiloquent scheme which the latter had concocted that he should "be assured the Kentuckians are full of enterprise and although not poor, as greedy after plunder as ever the old Romans were, Mexico glitters in our eyes-the word is all we wait for." 8 Spain was sullen at this time over the transfer of Louisiana and was assuming a threatening attitude on the southwestern borders. There was danger of a clash and perhaps a general war. Adair was therefore not influenced by filibustering or freebooting instincts altogether, but had the genuine expectation that great opportunities might come in a war his own government was fighting.

In Burr's relations with Adair appears one of his schemes, which the latter claimed to believe was the sole object in view. Mexico was to be attacked and wrested from Spain, but as Adair had understood from the signs of the times and from what Burr led him to believe, it was all to be done with the approval of the United States Government, and as part of a general war against Spain. Two years later he said:

3 Kentucky Gazette, 1800, 1805, passim.

4 Ibid., May 15, 1804.

5 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III, 71.

6 Marshall, History of Kentucky, II, 372.

7 M. L. Davis, Memoirs of Aaron Burr with Miscellaneous Selections from his Correspondence (New York, 1837), II, 368. Burr to his daughter, Theodosia, April 30, 1805.

8 Durrett MSS. Dated December 10.

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"So far as I know or believe of the intentions of Colonel Burr, (and my enemies will agree that I am not ignorant on this subject) they were to prepare and lead an expedition into Mexico, predicated on a war between the two governments; without a war, he knew he could do nothing." In regard to the understanding he had of Wilkinson's intentions Adair further stated: "About the 1st of November, 1806, I received a letter from him [Wilkinson] dated Natchitoches, September 28th, 1806, in which he detailed the number of troops under his command; the number of Spanish troops opposed to him, and by whom commanded; the relative situation of the two armies, together with the orders he acted under; and assures me he will fight in six or eight days at farthest. In that letter are the following words: 'The time long looked for by many, and wished for by more, has arrived, for subventing the Spanish government in Mexico-be you ready and join me, we will want little more than eight armed troops. * *" 10

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In November (1805) the Legislature elected General Adair a United States Senator to fill out the unexpired term of John Breckinridge, who had been appointed attorney-general by Jefferson.

Burr continued his journey into Tennessee where he met many of the most powerful and prominent men of the state. At Nashville he was the guest of Andrew Jackson, now major-general of the state militia. To "Old Hickory" he undoubtedly played up his scheme in the same way as to General Adair and left the same impression, that it was to be an attack against Spain approved by the United States Government.

A wide significance was given to the scheme no doubt by a second meeting of Burr and Wilkinson which took place near Fort Massac, the former having floated down the Cumberland River. The seeds of this meeting were probably sown in the conferences that took place a few months previously at Pittsburg. Regardless of what was done or said at the Fort Massac meeting, there certainly had by this time grown up a common understanding, with Wilkinson as deep in the plot as Burr. New Orleans and the dissatisfied people in the District of Orleans (as the southern division of the Louisiana purchase was called) were now the next objective. Provided by Wilkinson with letters of introduction to prominent people there and furnished with all necessary traveling facilities, Burr floated down the Mississippi to New Orleans. He found here a disgruntled people, agitating various schemes of conquest of Spanish territory and ambitious of separation from the United States. Burr doubtless saw great possibilities and talked them.

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At any rate, his visit gave rise to a train of rumors, which Daniel Clark described in a letter to Wilkinson: "Many absurd reports are circulated here * * * respecting our Ex-Vice-President. You are spoken of as his right hand man Power, whose head is always stuffed with plots, projects, conspiracies etc. and who sees objects through a millstone, is going to Natchez next week, to unravel the whole of this extraordinary business; and then God have mercy on the culprits, for Spanish ire and indignation will be leveled at them. What in the name of Heaven, could give rise to these extravagancies? * * The tale is a horrid one, if well told. Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, the four territories on the Mississippi, and Ohio, with part of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed with the plunder of the Spanish countries West of us, to separate from the Union; this is but a part of the business. Heavens, what wonderful doings there will be in those days! * Answer Mr. Burr with an account of it.

• Marshall, History of Kentucky, II, 428, 429. 1, 1807 at Washington.

10 Marshall, History of Kentucky, II, 430. 1807.

11 Wilkinson, Memoirs, III, Appendix, p. 35. McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation's History, 282.

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Statement made by Adair, March Statement of Adair made June 16,

September 7, 1805. A copy is in

Leaving New Orleans in mid-summer Burr retraced his course northward, going directly to Kentucky first. He arrived in Lexington, August 19th, and remained in the vicinity for almost a fortnight, making valuable friends and acquaintances. His engaging personality made him a favorite with the prominent inhabitants, and due to this quality he built up a powerful personnel following with those he came directly into contact with, while he remained an object of suspicion to the masses of the people. Henry Clay became strongly attached to Burr, as he greatly admired his talents and believed that he had been unjustly dealt with and outraged by the East. August 28th, Burr was back in Frankfort again, and again staying with his friend, John Brown, Burr wrote his daughter, Theodosia, at this time: "I am magnificently lodged at the house of John Brown Before leaving the state, he visited Louisville where he had established certain connections.13

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Apart from merely surveying the general situation at this time, Burr seems not to have entered into any direct understanding with Kentuckians, with the possible exception of Adair. Nevertheless his two visits taken together began to attract considerable attention, largely suspicious and unfavorable. The editor of the Kentucky Gazette remarked in November (1805) that Burr had recently passed through Lexington and that "if he calculated on withdrawing the affections of the people of the Western States from their Government, he will find himself deceived, if he has not already made that discovery." 14 It was further stated in this mirror of Kentucky opinion that his later career "was frought with a degree of duplicity, which can never be satisfactorily defended" which had "made him an object of attention wherever he had traveled. His talents for intrigue are considered as unrivalled in America, and his disposition doubted by few." The Palladium in Frankfort, greeted Burr with a set of queries copied from an Eastern paper, in which it was asked how long it would be until Burr would be at the head of a revolutionary party in the West, whether he had not formed a plan to entice the adventuresome from the East to Louisiana, and whether one of the inducements was not "that an immediate convention will be called, from the States bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi, to form a separate government ?" 15

But as before suggested, Burr was able to captivate with his marvelous personality those who came directly in contact with him. The following description is given of him as he appeared in Frankfort:

"I have at length been gratified with the sight of the late Vice-President, Aaron Burr. He arrived in this place on the 28th inst., from Orleans. A few days after, I had the honor of spending an evening in his company. I know you will laugh at the idea of my awkwardness, but be that as it may, I took some good solid looks at him; and can tell you something about him.

"His stature is about five feet six inches; he is a spare, meagre form, but of an elegant symmetry; his complexion is fair and transparent; his dress was fashionable and neat, but not flashy. He is a man of an erect and dignified deportment; his presence is of the French configuration; his forehead is prominent, broad, and retreating, indicative of great expansion of mind, immense range of thoughts, an amazing exuberance. of fancy but too smooth and regular for great altitude of conception. * The eye-brows are thin, nearly horizontal, and too far from

12 Dairs, Memoirs of Aaron Burr, II, 368.

18 James Parton, The Life and Times of Aaron Burr (Boston, 1802). Enlarged Edition, II, 47.

14 November 3, 1805.

15 September 7, 1805.

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