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Posted by Ned on November 30, 19101 at 16:41:40:
In Reply to: Re: Very well posted by ABHouston on November 29, 19101 at 17:14:40:
The Question at hand is did Burr do anything wrong. Not such a simple question as wrong has a range of meanings. Since I don't think you mean it in the sense of "made a wrong choice" such as "He wore the wrong outfit that day" I will stick to more apprent meanings like or unethical actions.
Answer 1--If by "wrong" we mean "": He planned a military expedition against a country (Spain) with which the US was at peace. Burr claimed that he was planning on the umption that war was about the begin, a valid umption in my opinion, but I am not 100% convinced that he intended to wait. This would be a misdemeanor.
Answer 2--if by wrong we mean unethical though not neccessarily : He did various unethical things at times. An obvious one is trying to get money from foreign governments by asking their support for certain schemes and, in my opnion, spinning a tale of what his schemes were that wasn;t true in order to win their support--ie he wasn't going to tell a representative of Spain that he planned to attack Spain so he told them a different story. However the spanish ambador saw through this and wasn't cooperative.
Getting back to the infamous letter. The letter never made it properly into evidence because Wilkinson was forced to admit he had tampered with it making it suspect. Willie's evidence had to do with whether he knew or did not know what was in the letter which he had supposedly transcribed. Willie's testimony and the handling thereof did not affect the introduction of the letter.
The plans outlined in the letter were not very detailed and made no reference to any , treasonous or otherwise, designs on any part of the US. It did make reference to attacking Baton Rouge, a part of Spain at that time.
What Morgan and his sons state is hardly a missing link. The Morgan's claimed that Burr spoke of the likelihood that the nation would split up due to geopgraphic and economic factors. He also spoke of the poor state of national defense and the ease whith which the current government could be otherthrown. But their testimony did not state that Burr claimed he was actually planning to do either of these things. There is no obvious connection with Burr's dinner time conversation with the morgan family as to the state of the nation and the cipher letter to Wilkinson about attacking Spain.
To jump ahead, there are two testimonies which most directly accuse Burr of treason: Wilkinson and Eaton. Wilkinson had a record for fabrication and deception and Eaton was an unstable man who was not involved in Burr's plans and who was paid highly by the governemnt for his testimony
You claim that the case was not "cut-and-dry, slam-dunk" but enough to investigate. And investigate the government did spending vast sums and taking questionable measures to get witnesses. Yet the governemtn was never able to make a case with any better evidence than casual dinner conversation and a strange letter. Yet you want to hang a man based on what you conceed yourself was not cut and dry evidence. Ouch.
As for Hamilton, I hope this is clearer:
I chose my words "exhibited certain aspects" to indicate that I beleive Hamilton had the character of a 'Napolean' or 'Caesar' but never was able to act as one. This is ogous to you admitting that Hamilton put up with democracy but didn't believe in it. Same concept--just because he didn't succeed in getting the president made a ruler for life doesn't mean that wasn't what he preferred. Just becuase he wasn't able to make a grasp for power doesn't mean he was lacking in the desire to do so.
Burr had dinner with Jefferson at the end of November in 1805, about a year before Jefferson would accuse him of treason. The exact nature of the meeting is not know becuase the comments of the two are not in agreement. Burr made it sound like he explained his plans and Jefferson was fine with them. Jefferons made it out that Burr was seeking some appointment--ambadorship or judge or something.
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