Editing Aaron Burr (section)

==Post-vice presidency (1805–1836)==
===Conspiracy and trial===
{{Main|Burr conspiracy}}
[[File:Map of Louisiana Representing the Several Land Districts, from the Surveyor General's Report 1860 NAID 26465546.jpg|thumb|An 1860 survey of [[Louisiana]] showing "rejected claim of the [[Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop|Baron de Bastrop]]" along the [[Ouachita River]]]]
[[File:Place where Aaron Burr was captured, near Wakefield, Alabama.jpg|thumb|The site of Burr's capture in February 1807 near [[Wakefield, Alabama]]]]
After Burr left the vice presidency at the end of his term in 1805, he journeyed to the western frontier, areas west of the [[Allegheny Mountains]] and down the [[Ohio River|Ohio River Valley]], eventually reaching the lands acquired in the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. He leased 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) of land, known as the Bastrop Tract, along the [[Ouachita River]], in present-day [[Louisiana]], from the [[History of Spain (1700-1810)|Spanish government]]. Starting in [[Pittsburgh]] and then proceeding to [[Beaver, Pennsylvania]] and [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling, Virginia]], and onward, he drummed up support for his planned settlement, whose purpose and status was unclear.{{sfn|McFarland|1979|p=62}}

Burr's most important contact was General [[James Wilkinson]], Commander-in-Chief of the [[United States Army]] at [[New Orleans]], and governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]]. Others included [[Harman Blennerhassett]], who offered the use of his private island for training and outfitting Burr's expedition. Wilkinson later proved to be a bad choice.{{sfn|Parmet|Hecht|1967|p=259}}

Burr envisioned the probability of the [[Spanish-American War]]. In case war was declared, [[Andrew Jackson]], then commander of [[Tennessee]]'s [[Militia (United States)|militia]], stood ready to assist Burr.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Feller|first1=Daniel|title=Andrew Jackson: Life Before the Presidency|url=https://millercenter.org/president/jackson/life-before-the-presidency|access-date=March 7, 2025|via=Miller Center}}</ref>
Burr's expedition of about eighty men carried modest arms for hunting and no war [[materiel]] was ever revealed even when [[Blennerhassett Island]] was seized by [[Ohio]]'s militia.{{sfn|Parmet|Hecht|1967|p=268}} Burr vowed the aim of his conspiracy was that if he settled there with a large group of armed farmers and war broke out, he would likely face a force with which to fight and claim land for himself thereby restoring his wealth. However, the war did not emerge as soon as Burr expected. In 1819, the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] secured [[Florida]] for the U.S. without a fight, and [[Texas Revolution|war in Texas]] did not commence until 1836, the year Burr died.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texas Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836|url=https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/texas175/declaration|date=May 29, 2024|access-date=March 7, 2025|via=Texas State Library}}</ref>

After a near-incident with Spanish forces at [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], Wilkinson decided he could best protect himself by betraying Burr's plans to his Spanish [[spymaster]]s and to President Jefferson.<ref>{{cite web|title=James Wilkinson|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/james-wilkinson|access-date=April 8, 2025|via=[[American Battlefield Trust]]}}</ref> Jefferson issued an order for Burr's arrest, declaring him a traitor before any indictment.<ref name=humanities>{{cite web|last1=Newmyer|first1=R. Kent|title=Burr versus Jefferson versus Marshall |url=https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/mayjune/feature/burr-versus-jefferson-versus-marshall|date=June 2013|access-date=February 25, 2025 |website=[[National Endowment for the Humanities]]|language=en-US}}</ref> Burr read this in a newspaper in the [[Territory of Orleans]] on January 10, 1807. Several journals reported on the subject, creating a pool of rumors, most against Burr.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fichtelberg |first=Joseph |date=2006 |title=The Devil Designs a Career: Aaron Burr and the Shaping of Enterprise |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25057466 |journal=Early American Literature |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=495–513 |jstor=25057466 |issn=0012-8163}}</ref> Jefferson's warrant put federal agents on his trail.<ref>H.R. Brands, ''Andrew Jackson: His Life and His Times'' (2005); 125–126</ref> Burr twice turned himself in to federal authorities, and both times judges found his actions legal and released him.<ref name=burrconspiracy>{{Cite web|title=The Burr Conspiracy|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-burr-conspiracy|access-date=March 6, 2025|via=[[PBS]]}}</ref>

Jefferson's warrant, however, followed Burr, who fled toward [[Spanish Florida]]. He was intercepted at [[Wakefield, Alabama|Wakefield]], in [[Mississippi Territory]] in present-day [[Alabama]], on February 19, 1807, by [[Edmund P. Gaines]] and [[Nicholas Perkins III]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Aaron Burr's Arrest |url=https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/aaron-burrs-arrest/ |access-date=June 8, 2023 |website=Encyclopedia of Alabama |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Roger |title=Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780199848775}}</ref> He was confined to [[Fort Stoddert]] after being arrested on charges of [[treason]].<ref name=burrconspiracy/>{{sfn|Pickett|1900}}

Burr's secret correspondence with [[Anthony Merry]] and the [[Carlos Martínez de Irujo y Tacón|Marquis of Casa Yrujo]], the British and Spanish ministers in [[Washington, D.C.]], were eventually revealed.<ref name=battlefields/><ref name=Melton>{{Cite book|title=Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyWM2rWyc_UC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|date=2002|access-date=March 6, 2025}}</ref> Burr tried to secure money and conceal what may have been his true design, which was aiding Mexico in overthrowing the [[Kingdom of Spain]]'s governance of the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]]. If Burr intended to establish a dynasty in what later became Mexican territory,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=862}} such an offense at the time was a [[misdemeanor]] under the [[Neutrality Act of 1794]], which [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed to block [[Filibuster (military)|filibuster]] expeditions against U.S. neighbors, including those of [[George Rogers Clark]] and [[William Blount]]. Despite this, [[Thomas Jefferson]] sought the highest charges against Burr.<ref name=humanities/>

In 1807, Burr was charged with treason in U.S. [[circuit court]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. His [[defense (law)|defense]] lawyers included [[Edmund Randolph]], [[John Wickham (attorney)|John Wickham]], [[Luther Martin]], and Benjamin Gaines Botts.{{sfn|Wandell|Minnigerode|1925|p=182}} Burr was [[arraignment|arraigned]] four times for treason prior to being indicted before a [[grand jury]]. The only physical evidence presented to the grand jury was Wilkinson's letter from Burr, which proposed stealing land in the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. During the grand jury's deliberations, however, the court discovered that the letter was written in Wilkinson's handwriting. He said he had made a copy because he had lost the original. The grand jury dismissed the letter out as evidence, and the news made a laughingstock of Wilkinson for the rest of the proceedings.<ref>Gordon S. Wood, "The Real Treason of Aaron Burr." ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 143.2 (1999): 280–295.</ref>

The trial, which was presided over by Chief Justice [[John Marshall]], began on August 3. [[Article Three of the United States Constitution#Section 3: Treason|Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution]] requires that treason either be admitted in open court or proven by an overt act witnessed by two people. Since no witnesses came forward, Burr was [[acquittal|acquitted]] on September 1, despite efforts by the [[Presidency of Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson administration]] to exert its political influence against him in the trial. Burr was immediately tried on a misdemeanor charge and was again acquitted.{{sfn|Hoffer|2008}}

Jefferson used his influence as president to seek Burr's conviction, leading the trial to be seen as a major test of the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]] and the [[separation of powers]]. Jefferson challenged the authority of the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] and Chief Justice Marshall, who was appointed by [[John Adams]] and clashed with Jefferson over Adams' last-minute judicial appointments. Jefferson believed that Burr's treason was obvious. Burr sent a letter to Jefferson in which he stated that he could do Jefferson much harm. The case, as tried, was decided on whether Burr was present at certain events at certain times and in certain capacities. Jefferson used all of his influence to attempt in an attempt to convince Marshall to convict Burr, but Marshall was not swayed.{{sfn|Hoffer|2008}}

Historians [[Nancy Isenberg]] and Andrew Burstein write that Burr:
{{blockquote|was not guilty of treason, nor was he ever convicted, because there was no evidence, not one credible piece of testimony, and the star witness for the prosecution had to admit that he had doctored a letter implicating Burr.{{sfn|Isenberg|Burstein|2011}}}}

David O. Stewart, on the other hand, alleged that Burr was not explicitly guilty of treason, according to Marshall's definition, but evidence existed linking him to treasonous crimes. Bollman admitted to Jefferson during an interrogation that Burr planned to raise an army and invade Mexico. He said that Burr believed that he should be Mexico's monarch, since a republican government, in Burr's view, was not appropriate for Mexico.{{sfn|Stewart|2011|pp=213–214}}

===Exile and return===
By the conclusion of his trial for treason, despite an acquittal, all of Burr's hopes for a political comeback had been dashed, and he fled America and his creditors for Europe.{{sfn|Isenberg|2007|p=380}} Dr. [[David Hosack]], Hamilton's physician and a friend to both Hamilton and Burr, lent Burr money for passage on a ship.{{sfn|Leitch|1978|pp=261–262}}

Burr lived in self-imposed [[exile]] from 1808 to 1812, passing most of this period in England, where he occupied a house on [[Craven Street]], [[London]]. He became a good friend, even confidant, of the English [[Utilitarianism|Utilitarian]] philosopher [[Jeremy Bentham]], and on occasion lived at Bentham's home. He also spent time in Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and [[French First Empire|France]]. Ever hopeful, he solicited funding for renewing his plans for a conquest of Mexico but was rebuffed. He was ordered out of England and [[Napoleon|Emperor Napoleon of France]] refused to receive him.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=862}} However, one of his ministers held an interview concerning Burr's goals for Spanish Florida or the [[British West Indies]].

After returning from Europe, Burr used the surname "Edwards", his mother's maiden name, for a while to avoid creditors. With help from old friends [[Samuel Swartwout]] and Matthew L. Davis, Burr returned to New York City and his law practice.<ref name=worldhistory/> Later he helped the heirs of the Eden family in a financial lawsuit. By the early 1820s, the remaining members of the Eden household, Eden's widow and two daughters, had become a surrogate family to Burr.{{sfn|Isenberg|2007|p=397}}

===Later life===
[[File:Image of Aaron Burr around 1834 by J. Vandyke.jpg|thumb|Image of Aaron Burr in 1833 or 1834, by J. Vandyke]]
Despite financial setbacks, Burr lived out the remainder of his life in New York in relative peace until 1833.{{sfn|Isenberg|2007|pp=396–397}} On July 1 of that year, at age 77, he married [[Eliza Jumel]], a wealthy widow who was nineteen years his junior. They lived together briefly at her residence which she had acquired with her first husband, the [[Morris–Jumel Mansion|Morris-Jumel Mansion]] in the [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]].{{sfn|Oppenheimer|2015|pp=165–169}} Listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], it is now preserved and open to the public.{{sfn|Ward|2000|p=39}}

Soon after the marriage, Jumel realized her fortune was dwindling due to Burr's [[land speculation]] losses,{{sfn|Brown|1901|pp=3–4}} and separated from him after four months of marriage. The apocryphal story is that she chose [[Alexander Hamilton Jr.]]{{sfn|Beyer|2017|p=163}} as her divorce lawyer in 1834, the same year Burr suffered an immobilizing [[stroke]].{{sfn|Chernow|2004|p=726}}