Posted on 02/14/2006 11:29:19 AM PST by clawrence3
Perhaps this duel is the most famous in history. Its results certainly meant the end of both Hamilton and Burr. They carried Hamilton from the field and the next day he died. Burr lived for years, but the shadow of his own doom was ever before him. It is reported that late in life he observed that, had he been wiser, he would have known that there was room enough in the world for both Hamilton and himself. Had Hamilton been equally wise, he would have known that calumnies and lies bring forth but bitter fruit.
When the news of Hamilton's death spread abroad, a thunderous hue and cry went up against Burr. He was a murderer, a criminal, in spite of the fact that all of the rules required under the duelling code had been observed. The Federalists set upon him. He was indicted forthwith for murder, both in New Jersey and New York, and, while he was never brought to trial, he had reason to fear facing a jury, so thoroughly had the public been prejudiced against him.
(Excerpt) Read more at odur.let.rug.nl ...
Let's just hope the press is not as vicious toward Cheney as the Federalists were to Burr ; )
I certainly hope there is SOME kind of federal protection at that room.
Not to mention that Hamilton was in truth what the DUmmies claim Rove is--a powermad manipulator bent on controlling the entire workings of government and making himself king in all but name. Gotta like the guy.
"call us Aaron Burr the way we're droppin' Hamiltons!"
He didn't throw it away intentionally. Biographies and other research I read 15 years ago proved that Hamilton had the hair trigger set on the gun to get his shot off first. The result was that the gun went off early. There is still some question as to whether or not this was considered "cheating" at the time.
I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than ride acorss a bridge with Ted Kennedy.
Not mine - Heard it from a caller on local radio yesterday...
Actually, it was. A duelist who chose to intentionally miss was thereby voluntarily taking the chance that his opponent would not choose to do the same. A duelist had no moral or ethical obligation to miss simply because his opponent did.
Were this not true, any lousy shot could just fire his pistol into the sky and thereby obligate his opponent to do the same. Kind of takes the point out of dueling.
Found it. The article that got me interested in this was "Pistols shed light on famed duel" from the November, 1976 Smithsonian magazine.
Where? I searched for "Cheney" and didn't find anything on that page.
I believe you are correct. As the story goes, way back in 1976, as the country was celebrating its bicentennial, the two pistols were being examined before being placed in the Smithsonian. Upon close inspection, Hamilton's pistol was rigged with a hair trigger, requiring only 1 to 1.5 pounds of pressure to pull, unlike the 10 to 15 pounds of pull required to fire a normal (unaltered) pistol. As a result, a duelist would have an incredible advantage over his opponent. In this case, it seems, Mr. Hamilton held the gun a bit too tight and triggered it before he had aimed, hitting the leaves above Burr's head. So, it would seem that although the fix was in, Mr. Burr's luck overcame it. Hamilton's nobility is, in my mind at least, somewhat suspect.
Burr wanted to make himself king of the entire Louisiana Purchase - hardly a difference there.
Down at the bottom, under trivia.
It's gone now. Interesting bit about Burr and the Louisiana purchase. I've been meaning to read more on the Founding fathers and get some more knowledge of American history. I've had the Chernow Hamilton bio on my Amazon wish list forever.
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