BURR 



1013 



BURROUGHS 



Burr was born at Newark-, N. J., and was 

 graduated in 1772 at Princeton College, of 

 which his father, Aaron Burr, and his grand- 

 father, the cele- 

 brated Jonathan 

 Edwards, had 

 been presidents. 

 In the Continen- 

 tal army, which 

 he joined in 1775, 

 he gained a high 

 reputation for 

 courage, rising to 

 the rank of lieu- 



X2*L : ^mm:\ 



the service in 

 1778, was admit- 

 ted to the bar AARON BURR 



nH r>rnr-tir>pH in Who might have been Pres- 

 and practiced in ident of the Uni ted States 



Albany and then except for the opposition of 



IT* one man. 



in New i ork, 



quickly becoming a leader in his profession. 

 He served in the state legislature, was attorney- 

 general of New York, and in 1791 was elected 

 to the United States Senate. He has some- 

 times been called the "first boss of New York 

 state." 



From his very entrance into political life 

 Burr stood as an opponent and rival of Alex- 

 ander Hamilton. In 1800 he was a candidate 

 for President of the United States, and re- 

 ceived the same number of votes as Jefferson; 

 but the House of Representatives, chiefly 

 through the influence of Hamilton, elected 

 Jefferson, and Burr became Vice-President (see 

 Constitution of the United States, Art. II, 

 Sec. 2). This was another grievance against 

 Hamilton, and when in 1804 Burr was defeated 

 in the race for the governorship of New York, 

 he laid that also to Hamilton's influence, prob- 

 ably with good reason. Intensely angry now, 

 he forced a duel upon Hamilton. The two 

 met at Weehawken, N. J., on July 11, 1804, and 

 at the signal Hamilton fired into the air. Burr, 

 however, took careful aim, and his great rival 

 fell mortally wounded. 



The outcry was loud, and Burr fled to Geor- 

 gia, but later returned to Washington and com- 

 pleted his term as Vice-President. His rest- 

 less ambition, however, would not let him 

 view calmly the ruin of all his political hopes, 

 and he therefore prepared to raise a force 

 for an adventure in the Southwest. Perhaps 

 he meant to conquer Texas and establish there 

 a republic, with himself at its head. Appar- 



ently he believed that he might be successful 

 in detaching the Western states from the Union 

 and thereby revenging himself for the slights 

 which he had suffered. Several men of wealth 

 and influence like Harman Blennerhassett 

 (which see) were won over by his promises 

 and Andrew Jackson received him as a friend. 

 The scheme had not progressed far before it 

 became known to the government. His force 

 scattered in the lower Mississippi, his con- 

 federate, Wilkinson, turned against him, and 

 he was arrested and tried for treason. Chief 

 Justice John Marshall, however, directed his 

 acquittal. His reputation was ruined, but after 

 some years spent in Europe he boldly returned 

 again to New York in 1812 and opened a law 

 office. Despite his ability, he never regained 

 a large practice and was shunned by society. 



Theodosia Burr (1783-1813), his only daugh- 

 ter, was celebrated not only for her beauty and 

 cleverness, but for her unshaken devotion to 

 her father. She was his housekeeper and favor- 

 ite companion until her marriage in 1801 to 

 Joseph Alston, afterward governor of South 

 Carolina. During her father's trial she worked 

 constantly to arouse public sympathy for him, 

 and on his return from Europe sailed for New 

 York to meet him. Her ship, the Patriot, 

 disappeared during the voyage and no one on 

 board was ever heard from again; whether it 

 was wrecked by a storm or captured by pirates 

 was not known. A.B.H. 



Consult Todd's The True Aaron Burr; Orth's 

 Five American Politicians: A. Burr. 



BURRELL, bur 'el, MARTIN (1858- ), a 

 Canadian legislator and expert in horticulture, 

 Dominion Minister of Agriculture since 1911. 

 He was born and educated in England, but in 

 1886 settled on the Niagara peninsula, near 

 Saint Catherine's, Ont. Here he engaged in 

 fruit growing, and was soon known as an 

 authority on horticulture. Removing to British 

 Columbia in 1900, he continued his business of 

 fruit growing, and also became active in local 

 politics. In 1907 the government of British 

 Columbia sent him to England as its fruit 

 commissioner, but a year later Burrell returned 

 to Canada to sit as a Conservative in the 

 House of Commons, of which he was still a 

 member in 1916. 



BURROUGHS, bur'ohz, JOHN (1837- ), 

 one of America's favorite writers on outdoor 

 life, a literary naturalist whose descriptions of 

 birds, bees and flowers are among the most 

 charming in all literature. He was born at 

 Roxbury, N. Y., and spent his boyhood on his 



