Aaron Burr's Career Path

Aaron Burr is a major figure in American history, known for his politics, and his duel with Alexander Hamilton. He was born into a family with a history of activity in politics. Not so surprisingly, that is the career path that he followed. His original career was being a lawyer in NY. Eventually he got his first major job in politics, which was being a Senator, a position he was elected to in 1791. He increased his importance when he became the Vice President of Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Although, he did not fill this position during Jefferson’s second term, because of issues between the two. So, within a year or so of being replaced, Burr turned to a secessionist scheme, which he had been planning for a fair amount of time. This scheme involved breaking western states away from the union, and creating his own independent state. His partner in the scheme, General James Wilkinson, ended up getting cold feet, and gave up Burr to …show more content…
The Cipher Letter was a letter from Burr to Wilkinson detailing all of his plans, and Wilkinson had sent this letter to Thomas Jefferson to aid in the conviction of Burr. So, the court had this evidence, proving that Burr planned to attempt to separate parts of the United States, which would have been a treacherous act. According to Marshall this had failed to demonstrate that Burr had committed any acts of treason. Even though he had been directly tied into the plot for separating from the U.S. and forming an independent state, he was not found guilty. They could prove that Burr wanted to war against the nation, and try to separate parts of the nation from each other, but in the biased eyes of Marshall, it was not enough. It is absurd that it could be proven that a man was conspiring against the United States of America, and that would not be convicted as a traitor for his actions. There was no legitimacy to the results of Aaron Burr’s trial, and he was guilty of