Don’t forget Aaron Burr. He was even more twisted, since he was Jefferson’s running-mate and then after they got the same number of electoral votes, his opponent in the congressional voting that would determine the winner. Anyway, he was not happy with the result and what he did showed it.
Aaron Burr... Good point.
Another huge sore looser. Definitely bigger than Gore. Still not quite as high as Breckinridge !
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“After leaving Washington, Burr traveled west seeking new opportunities, both economic and political. His activities eventually led to his arrest on charges of treason in 1807. The subsequent trial resulted in acquittal, but Burr’s western schemes left him with large debts and few influential friends. ”
“Contacts with the British Edit
While Burr was still Vice President, in 1804 he met with Anthony Merry, the British Minister to the United States. As Burr told several of his colleagues, he suggested to Merry that the British might regain power in the Southwest if they contributed guns and money to his expedition. Burr offered to detach Louisiana from the Union in exchange for a half a million dollars and a British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. Merry wrote, “It is clear Mr. Burr... means to endeavour to be the instrument for effecting such a connection—he has told me that the inhabitants of Louisiana ... prefer having the protection and assistance of Great Britain.”[2] “Execution of their design is only delayed by the difficulty of obtaining previously an assurance of protection & assistance from some foreign power.”[2]
In November 1805, Burr again met with Merry and asked for two or three ships of the line and money. Merry informed Burr that London had not yet responded to Burr’s plans which he had forwarded the previous year. Merry gave him fifteen hundred dollars. Those Merry worked for in London expressed no interest in furthering an American secession. In the spring of 1806, Burr had his final meeting with Merry. In this meeting Merry informed Burr that still no response had been received from London. Burr told Merry, “with or without such support it certainly would be made very shortly.”[3] Merry was recalled to Britain on June 1, 1806.”
“Travels to the Ohio Valley and Louisiana Territory Edit
In 1805 Burr conceived plans to emigrate, which he claimed was for the purpose of taking possession of land in the Texas Territories leased to him by the Spanish (the lease was granted, and copies still exist).
That year Burr traveled down the Ohio River starting in Pittsburgh to the Louisiana Territory.[4] In the spring, Burr met with Harman Blennerhassett, who proved valuable in helping Burr further his plan. He provided friendship, support, and most importantly, access to the island which he owned on the Ohio River, about 2 miles (3 km) below what is now Parkersburg, West Virginia. In 1806, Blennerhassett offered to provide Burr with substantial financial support. Burr and his co-conspirators used this island as a storage space for men and supplies. Burr tried to recruit volunteers to enter Spanish territories. In New Orleans, he met with the Mexican associates, a group of criollos whose objective was to conquer Mexico (still New Spain at the time). Burr was able to gain the support of New Orleans’ Catholic bishop for his expedition into Mexico. Reports of Burr’s plans first appeared in newspaper reports in August 1805, which suggested that Burr intended to raise a western army and “to form a separate government.”
In early 1806, Burr contacted the Spanish minister, Carlos Martínez de Irujo y Tacón, and told him that his plan was not just western secession, but the capture of Washington, D.C. Irujo wrote to his masters in Madrid about the coming “dismemberment of the colossal power which was growing at the very gates” of New Spain.[5] Irujo gave Burr a few thousand dollars to get things started. The Spanish government in Madrid took no action.
Following the events in Kentucky, Burr returned to the West later in 1806 to recruit more volunteers for a military expedition down the Mississippi River. He began using Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River to store men and supplies. The Governor of Ohio grew suspicious of the activity there, and ordered the state militia to raid the island and seize all supplies. Blennerhassett escaped with one boat, and he met up with Burr at the operation’s headquarters on the Cumberland River. With a significantly smaller force, the two headed down the Ohio to the Mississippi River and New Orleans. Wilkinson had vowed to supply troops at New Orleans, but he concluded that the conspiracy was bound to fail, and rather than providing troops, Wilkinson revealed Burr’s plan to President Jefferson.”