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1-019 The Fascinating Enigma of Aaron Burr - I
Vol. 1- No. 19
1995
Lead: Few American politicians have led as curious life as did Aaron Faith Burr. Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Burr was the son and namesake of the president of Princeton and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher. Rejecting the life of a Presbyterian minister, he early set his sights on a legal career, but the Revolution interrupted his plans. In the Army he rose quickly in the ranks and distinguished himself, particularly in the otherwise indecisive Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey in the summer of 1778. After the war wound down he moved to New York, took up law and entered politics. He was ambitious, brilliant, and had an engaging personality, but swiftly gained a reputation for political ruthlessness. This drive would carry him to the threshold of power but secured for him the enemies who would deny him the goal for which he longed more than any: to be President of the United States. New York politics were split along factions associated with three great family groups. Revolutionary Governor George Clinton and his nephew DeWitt Clinton got their power from voters in upstate and western New York which were quickly filling up with settlers in the years following the Revolution. The Livingston's were Presbyterian in religion and commanded the allegiance of many middle-class voters. The third and most powerful family were the Schuyler's, Dutch Episcopalians, who only late in the Revolution adopted the Patriot cause. Burr had no inside connection with any of these groups. He had to achieve power on his own and thus was one of the first to understand the importance of political parties. In the City of New York after the Revolution there formed a working class political club called the Society of Tammany. Under Burr's influence Tammany began to attack the old aristocratic political groups. When the Schuylers used their influence to keep the Livingstons from getting any political jobs in the new American government, Burr saw his chance. He created a political alliance between Tammany, the upstate Clintons and the Livingstons, and got himself elected Senator from New York in 1791. Next time: Burr's folly. The producer of A Moment In Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts. Copyright 1995 by Educational Broadcast, Inc. Resources Burr, Aaron. Memoirs of Aaron Burr. New York: Harper and Brother, 1836-1837. Daniels, Jonathan. Ordeal of Ambition: Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr. Garden City, New York: Doubleday Publishing, 1970. Lomask, Milton. Aaron Burr. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux Publishing, Inc., 1979-1982.
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