Ask the Scholar

Original Exhibition Caption: Attorney Aaron Burr (1756-1836) was acting as a landlord's agent when he wrote this February 1784 letter seeking rent money owed by a building tenant. Burr served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and, later, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1782. He would embark on a political career that included serving as Vice President of the United States from 1801-1805. In July 1804, he fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a famous duel. In 1805-1806, Burr became involved in a plot to create an empire encompassing the Mississippi Valley, Mexico, and the American West. The scheme disintegrated and he was tried for treason. Though he was acquitted, his political career was over. Burr lived in self-imposed exile in England from 1808-1812 before returning to America, where he practiced law in New York. He died there in 1836.