Aaron Burr in the News 2014-2011
12/31/14
Subject:[AaronBurrAssoc] More details on Feb. 7 unveiling party @ Morris-Jumel Mansion
Antonio Burr, Ph.D., advises me that the cocktail reception is from 6 to 9 pm, on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015, at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. The party includes the enveiling of both the restored copy of a painting of Aaron Burr (which many of you made contributions to), and the new bust of Aaron, to be placed inside the Mansion. Harry Anderson funded this important work, which was created by artist Leith Adams, on Newport, R.I. Leith attended our Annual Meeting in Charleston, SC, in September.
Tickets for the event cost $20 per person, and may be reserved, ahead of time, in two ways: Call the Mansion, (212) 923-8008 or send an email to Antonio @: burr.antonio@gmail.com
The Mansion is located at 65 Jumel Terrace, NYC 10032. It is between West 160th and 162nd Streets, one block east of St. Nicholas Ave, and one block west of Edgecombe Ave. It is in a beautiful area, full of fully-restored brownstone homes.
Antonio suggests you try to book a room at something called "airbnb," which I think runs B & B's in Manhattan.
We hope our members who live in the general area, or who happen to be near NYC then, will attend this important event. We are becoming very close to the Mansion, which in 2015 is celebrating its 250th anniversary. The correct the telephone number of the Mansion; according to their website, it is (212) 923-8008.
Stuart
12/14/14
Dear Friends: Since I joined the Board of Directors of the Morris Jumel Mansion Museum (http://www.morrisjumel.org/) in April 2014, we have been busy planning a host of event to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Mansion. Please save the date for two upcoming events early in the year that are particularly close to my heart. First, the party!! I am organizing a party at the Mansion on Saturday February 7th to celebrate Aaron Burr’s birthday. You may know that Burr was married to Madame Jumel and lived at the Mansion during their brief marriage. We shall memorialize his presence at the house by dedicating a recently restored portrait of Burr which will be hung in a place of honor in the parlor. (I personally raised over $7000 to restore this portrait which was found in the deep recesses of the Mansion’s storage rooms.) This will be an excellent opportunity for you to see the house, if you have not been there, partake in wine and cheese, and have a good time among friends. (Tickets are $20 which includes a glass of special cider from the Aaron Burr Cidery in Wurstsboro, NY.) Two days before, on Thursday February 5th , the Mansion has reserved a block of tickets at the Public Theater for Lin-Miranda’s hip-hop play “Hamilton,” featuring an assorted array of Founding Fathers at their musical best. (see below for ticket information) This being a fundraiser for the Mansion, certain ticket categories will include admission to a cocktail reception at the Public’s Library, including a Q and A with Lin-Miranda moderated by our own Diane Di Mauro. I would be honored to have you attend these events! Antonio
12/1/14Friends: Virginia (Ginny) Adcook, this past weekend, notified me that our long-time member, and Ginny's cousin, Barbara Lent Coe (Fairfield branch), of Stamford, Vermont (w/i an hour of Bennington, where I grew up), passed away on Nov. 22, 2014, age 89, in a nursing home.
Ginny, Barbara (aka Bobbie), and a third cousin, Lorraine Burr of East Norwalk, Ct. (whose late husband was Alan Burr), have been known to me, for years, as the three "girls," because that is what our late member, Alan Malarkey, of Arizona, called them (he was very fond of them, and stayed once at Ginny's house near Syracuse).
Since Barbara Coe was once such an important member (she last attended our Nashville meeting, where she started showing signs of dementia), I am compelled to share some details of her rich life.
Barbara and her her late husband, Melvin, on ce owned or ran the Old Coach Inn, in Heartwellvile, Vt. (southern Vt,, near Mt. Snow ski area). Barbara also held a local government position. She therefore was invested in her community. She was a vivid, delightful person, and always showed me lots of love and appreciation. She often mailed me articles on various subjects.
She will never be forgotten.
Stuart and Helena
The July 11, 2014 ten year anniversary of the duel reenactment was remembered at the Morris Jumel mansion, where the reenactment pistols were displayed.
(Here are the real pistols outside Jamie Dimon's office at JP Morgan.)
Director Carol and Antonio Burr addressed the crowd of about 30.
Here is the handout left on each seat:
3/23/14 Kent Newmyer delivers a lecture on his book The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr.
Attended by Pete and John in Litchfield, CT. Good prospective of legal issues.
Pete's opinion was that KN is not a big fan of TJ.
--Trick pistol truth recognition in an internationally ranked news article:
Links back to ABA.org Smithsonian article and youtube videos describing unassembled pistol hair triggers.
02/25/14 Katherine's Portrait's Calendar
02/23/14A little odd, weird, something.
02/18/14
Aaron Burr featured in Mad magazine here
11/22/13 Dear ABA members: I am pleased to announce that the ultimate goal for BURRIANA, to be recognized as a new and useful reference manual concerning Burr, has been achieved. In my opinion The William Reese Company is the premier antiquarian bookseller in the world. Below is an antiquarian book listing for sale from the William Reese Company of one of the pamphlets written in 1802 in response to James Cheetham's vicious pamphlets concerning Burr. At the bottom of the listing, HARDISON, BURRIANA is cited along with TOMPKINS, HOWES, SABIN and other references. This may not seem like much, but when BURRIANA is cited it insures that future researchers interested in Burr can now go to a reference manual that gives Burr a fair evaluation. Also note that WANDELL, BURR IN LITERATURE, another fair reference manual, is listed. This may also be the first time that I have seen BURR IN LITERATURE previously cited anywhere as an antiquarian book reference except in BURRIANA. All of this is quite exciting to me. It makes me feel that the ABA effort last year in supporting the exhibit and BURRIANA is gradually paying back. Brian Hardison
11/17/13 Last weekend my wife Cindy and I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Newport, RI. It was an opportunity to spend more time with my friend and yours Harry Anderson.
The new book on Harry's life is outstanding and available as follows:
Roger Vaughan, who attended the 2012 ABA meeting in New York City, has provided all of us with a well written book of a remarkable life. I have added it to my Burr library and strongly recommend the same to everyone.
Brian Hardison
I am going to take advantage of the list attached to Stuart’s recent email concerning next year’s meeting in Charleston to bring to your attention some recent developments concerning Aaron Burr’s relationship to Morris-Jumel Mansion. In the first place, Antonio Burr has just informed us that the Aaron Burr Society has collected $3200 to restore a portrait of Aaron Burr that was given to the Mansion many years ago. While it is not a painting done from life, it was done by a portraitist who studied with John Singer Sargent, who was one of the best. We will move forward with this and thank you very much indeed. Secondly, we have been in communication with Harry Anderson about the possibility of placing a bas relief that was once displayed on the facade of a bank in Newark either in the interior or exterior of the Mansion, as well as the possibility of similarly placing a bust of Aaron Burr somewhere on the premises. Our preliminary indication is that to display either the bas relief or the bust outside the Mansion would require the approval of the Parks Department. We are presently attempting to ascertain their criteria for approval, and are also requesting their authorization to display the bust in the Park. Displaying either the bas relief or the bust inside the Mansion will not require Parks Department approval, and we are favorably disposed to displaying both the bas relief and the bust if the proportions are consistent with an interior display. The bust might be better outside, but we will need to work with the Parks Department on that. In any event, we are very interested in enhancing the Mansion’s connection to Aaron Burr, and believe that, if there is no other place where he is recognized in New York by public statuary, the Mansion would be a good place to do so. While you may know that Aaron Burr was married to Madame Jumel in the last years of his life, and thus lived in the Mansion, it is less widely known that, when the Mansion was for sale in the early 1800s before its purchase by the Jumels, Theodosia wrote to her father urging him to look into acquiring the property. I have also assumed that he was at the Mansion in September-October 1776 while he served as aide to General Knox, but have not seen any specific evidence of that. I don’t know whether any of you were able to get to the Mansion for the Morris-Jumel Mansion Culture and Arts Festival in early October, but the signal event of the day was the premiere of three songs from a Broadway musical, “The Hamilton Mix-Tape,” that is being written and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel, the Tony- and Grammy-award winning author and composer of the Broadway hit, “In the Heights,” is not only a resident of Washington Heights and a great fan of the Mansion, but an admirer of Aaron Burr. Those of you who live in New York City may have seen his plugs for the Mansion that have appeared from time-to-time on the TV screen in the back of New York City taxis. In any event, he is putting together a musical based on the intertwined lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr that is almost certain to make it to Broadway with a good chance of being a popular triumph. Two of the songs he performed at the Mansion in early October were about the Burr Theodosias, mother and daughter, and I would describe both songs as affectionate and amusing. The third song was about Hamilton and dealt with his overweening ambition. There is a fourth song about Burr and Hamilton that he performed at the White House that I believe will also be included in the musical, a link to which follows, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jz1VRfdbmY. . The Mansion’s new Executive Director, Carol Ward, brought Lin-Manuel to the Burriana exhibit at the Grolier Club last summer and he has copies both of Nancy Isenberg’s “Fallen Founder” and Brian Hardison’s “Burriana.” As indicated above, Lin-Manuel is a fan of Aaron Burr and has developed a real affection for him as he has worked on the dramatization of Burr’s relationship to Hamilton. While a musical may not have been what you were expecting to bring Burr to the attention of a wider contemporary audience, I believe that Burr will be portrayed in an affectionate and positive light to many who are not likely to be well-acquainted with him. Lin-Manuel’s style is very exuberant and is definitely pitched to a youthful crowd, but I found it very easy to like his songs about the Burr women, and to some extent it is simply amazing that they are the subject of song in the Twenty-First Century. In any event, this musical should be ready for Broadway some time in 2014 or early 2015, and I urge you to stay alert for it. Those of you who are members of Morris-Jumel may have received the our recent taped introduction to the Mansion and our appeal for assistance in preserving it for another 248 years. While the Parks Department is responsible for the upkeep of the Mansion and its capital improvements and preservation, we are concerned that there are some things that just can’t wait. To that end, we are focusing on a handful of projects that go well beyond the cosmetic and simply cannot wait. As indicated above, we are grateful to the Aaron Burr Society for its generosity in helping to restore the Burr portrait, and in offering to make available the bas relief and the bust, but we hope you don’t mind if we make an independent request to make it easier for all of us to be proud of this last home for Vice President Burr. His rival’s house a few blocks away is well-tended by the National Park Service, and we do not want the Mansion to suffer by comparison . Follow the link to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-restore-the-morris-jumel-mansion/. James L. Kerr212-450-4552www.morrisjumel.org
Dear ABA members, July 20, 2013 I'm happy to inform you that we have published our book, "Aunt Abby and Aaron Burr's Last Days: Staten Island, the Summer of 1836, and the Death of America's Most Notorious Man", and copies are selling. Please click above for the advertisements surrounding a book signing that Ray and I had at the Blennerhassett Museum Gift Shop in Parkersburg, WV. I do not belong to Facebook, but someone at the Museum did and took the picture. Dr. Swick has written a stunning, detailed account of Aaron Burr's last days. I have contributed some of the writing, some of the ideas and a fair amount of research. As most of you know, Ray is dedicated to researching and writing an accurate story, and I think you will find this non-fiction book delightful to read. Ray has sold most of his share of the copies of this book, and I have yet to have a book signing here in Kalamazoo, MI, where I hope to do as well. I have been selling copies here and there, but the announcement to the public here hasn't been issued yet. I want to give the ABA members a chance to own a copy or two, but supplies are limited. If you wish to order it, please send me a check, payable to Martha Kakuk, for a total of $17.00 ($14.95 for the book and $2.05 for shipping and handling). In your envelope, please include your return address, and I will mail the book to you right away. My address is: Martha Kakuk, P.O. Box 212, Portage, MI 49081-0212. My phone number is (269) 375-6173. I told Ray that after I have covered my half of the cost of publishing, I will donate the rest of my sales to the Blennerhassett Museum. If you want to get in touch with Ray, he can be reached at the Blennerhassett Museum, 137 Juliana Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101, Tel: (304) 420-4800. His e-mail address is: ray.r.swick@wv.gov. I hope to hear from you soon. I'm thanking you in advance. Marty
__._,_.___
Dear Prof. Collins:
Finally I had a chance to read your new book, Duel With the Devil. That portion of your book concerning the Levi Weeks trial is exceptional. You included detail about both the surrounding events leading up to the trial and the event itself that was new to me.
I was especially interested in whether or not you would credit Aaron Burr with making the remarkable opening address for the Defense. As you likely know, Ron Chernow attempted in his book on Hamilton to give him credit for Burr's accomplishment. Fortunately by your research, you have joined Dr. Isenberg and others in returning to Burr the credit he deserves for such an outstanding speech. Thank you for hopefully finally putting that issue to rest.
There was only one point in your book that I thought could have been better stated. In Chapter 21, page 203 you state concerning the duel "... this much is known: Hamilton shot into the trees. Burr, leveling his pistol at his foe, did not." I believe your leading the reader to think that Burr had the "mythical pause" in the duel in order to reflect. The fact is we know much more about the tragic event. This "mythical pause" has been shown by Isenberg and others to be a myth. It is now generally accepted that Burr did nothing but follow the code duello.
Thank you for your book. Congratulations on a very well written and researched book concerning the Weeks trial.
Sincerely,
Brian Hardison
Dallas, Georgia
April 8, 2013
Upcoming Article in History Magazine by ABA member John Endicott et al.
From John:
Here's the link to the table of contents for the next issue with our article listed at the bottom;
http://www.history-magazine.com/upcoming_previous.htm
April 3, 2013
The annual Kartch/Jefferson Lecture will be held at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 starting at 9:45 am. in Ballroom A of University Commons. This year's speaker will be Dr. Brian Murphy of the History Department, Baruch College, City University of New York. His topic will be "Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and the Limits of Partisanship in American Democracy."
Dr. Murphy wrote the excellent article, "'A Very Convenient Instrument': The Manhattan Company, Aaron Burr, and the Election of 1800" which appeared in the April 2008 issue of The William & Mary Quarterly.
Any Aaron Burr Association members who are in the area are most welcome to attend. The lecture is free and reservations are not necessary. Free parking is available on campus.
For further information, contact Dr. Sue Bowles at sgbowles1@cs.com. Directions and campus map can be found at the university website at www.wpunj.edu.
Hope to see some of you there!
Sue
03/10/13
Dear Brian Hardison, Thank you for your note and for your offer to write an article for Manuscripts. Burr's protégé Samuel Swartwout sounds like an interesting topic. I've attached a copy of Bill's review. I'm sure he would have no objections to having it posted on the Burr website. I'm also copying Bill on this note so he can enjoy your comments. I look forward to working with you. Best wishes, David David R. Chesnutt Editor, Manuscripts 941 Leycester Dr. Baton Rouge, LA 70808
01/06/13 Info on Burr plays in NYC in January
12/8/12 Please see the following new article concerning Burr and Lewis Wetzel from an interview with our own Dr. Ray Swick. www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/548364/What-s-in-a-Name--Wetze...
November 18, 2012
Aaron Burr Exhibit on display in the Special Collections Libraries at the University of Georgia
Brian Hardison's alma mater, the University of Georgia, has given him the honor of being the first private collector to exhibit a collection in the brand new, state of the art, library gallery on campus. Below is the press release.
Writer: Jean Cleveland, 706/542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu
Contact: Chantel Dunham, 706/542-0628, cdunham@uga.edu
Aaron Burr exhibition on display at UGA’s special collections libraries
Athens, Ga. – A display of rare items exploring the life of Aaron Burr is on display until Jan. 31 at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library galleries of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries at the University of Georgia.
The Man Who Killed Hamilton: Defending Aaron Burr Through the Books, Manuscripts, Pamphlets and Historic Objects from the Collection of Brian Davon Hardison contains several hundred newspapers, manuscripts, previously unpublished signed letters, art and historic relics from the collection of Brian Davon Hardison, a 1981 alumnus of UGA and a judge in Paulding County.
The collection is said to be the most comprehensive portrayal of the complicated Founding Father, who distinguished himself during the American Revolution and went on to become an influential lawmaker. Burr served as U.S. vice president under Thomas Jefferson, but his legacy is overshadowed by political disputes and his infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton.
Many of the items in the collection relate to Burr’s contemporaries such as George Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and Benedict Arnold. The exhibit includes Revolutionary War intelligence, the 1800 report of the first recorded murder trial in the U.S., an 1807 subpoena from Burr’s trial for treason and Burr’s watch, which contains the only known portrait of his first wife and the earliest known portrait of his daughter, Theodosia.
The exhibit previously was on view at the Grolier Club in New York, which also published the book, Burriana: A Catalogue of Rare Books, Pamphlets, Letters, Manuscripts, Documents & Objects by, About or Relating to Aaron Burr.
Hardison has been amassing the collection since the 1990s. He said he found Burr an interesting historical figure.
Burr outlived his children and made no effort to offer a written account of his life, unlike many of his contemporaries. Documents from the era reveal, however, a progressive record of support for women’s rights, the arts and the anti-slavery movement.
“I don’t think he was concerned with what others thought,” Hardison said. “He was not as concerned with his legacy as others were.”
The Hargrett Library gallery is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 1-5 p.m. For more information on the Hargrett Library, see www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett.
October 11, 2012 important Princeton article:
Article by ABA member John Endicott
Dear Burrites,
I want to bring your attention to a brand, or label, of red wine which at least partly recognizes our hero, Colonel Aaron Burr. A friend from Maryland, Christopher Hinkel (he attended our Richmond and Duel Reenactment meetings, among others), recently gifted me with a bottle of red wine which I must tell you about, for at least two reasons: its great taste and its killer label.
Here is what the front label says: "Dry Creek Valley. the FEDERALIST Dueling Pistols. Off the Hudson shore at Weehawken, the Federalist, Alexander Hamilton, was shot in a duel by Aaron Burr. " The label on the rear of the bottle says, among things: "FEDERALIST Dueling Pistols, 2009, Dry Creek Valley Appellation. 50% Zinfandel, 50% Syrah. Vinted and Bottled by 2Sons Winery, Healdsburg, CA. THEFEDERALISTZIN. COM. "On July 11, 1804, off the Hudson shore at Weehawken, the original Federalist, Alexander Hamilton, was shot in a duel by Aaron Burr and died from his injuries. Since dueling is no longer socially acceptable, we suggest solving differences over a glass of this "dual" of zinfandel and syrah."
This wine has a good taste. Unfortunately, it is pricey. At the Montgomery County, Md. Wine & Liquor store which carries it which I recently visited, they happened to have it on sale, for $26.99 for the small bottle (750 ML); regularly, it sells for $31.86 there. Many liquor stores offer a 10% discount if you buy a carton of wine, in general (12 750 ML bottles).
Enjoy the remainder of the summer.
Stuart Johnson
August 12, 2012
August 2012 Videos of secret hair trigger assembly
Hair trigger 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trZ_j1RysOE
Hair trigger 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GofgeWV8iw0
Hair trigger 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKqqbFBUTE
1/12/12 Alexander Hamilton through the eyes of Aaron Burr
John and Peter,
This you tube has a rap song done in front of the Obamas by the writer/director of In the Heights, the Grammy and Tony award winning musical. I thought it was awfully clever.
Al
10/25/11 Our speaker at the annual meeting this week:
Note the interesting readers comments section.
ABA members will vote only once because we are honorable.
The web site does not prevent one person from voting many times for Burr's opponents.
And more about the new book here:
News & Notes: Aaron Burr, Class of 1772, nominated for New Jersey Hall of Fame
Care to vote for him and others? http://www.njhalloffame.org/nominationform/voting2.php
Congratulations Katherine on your new web site!
The street was once named Burr Street after Aaron Burr and then renamed following Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton and his subsequent arrest. ...
9/17/11 Grolier Club description of the Exhibit: See Forthcoming Exhibitions.
9/10/11
Hi, Peter. Could you put this announcement up on the ABA website. I only just found about this. I won't be in Nashville, but, if you are, I hope you have a good time. Best regards, Sue Suzanne G. Bowles, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History William Paterson University
Here it is Sue. Monday Sept 19.
7/12
4/23 Congratulations to Ron Chernow.
Thanks for the tid bid about weather the day of the duel.
4/17 Three videos from the TV:
This scene is off, because they did not start with pistols aimed at each other like Richard and Doug wish had happened.
Pistols were really aimed to heaven, and Hamilton hair trigger fired before completing his downward arc aim, per The Smithsonian article.
Round table:
Hi Everyone,
I was able to view the Alexander Hamilton special last night. Thank you Aleta for giving me the heads up when it was going to air the second time. I was able to record it. It aired at 3:30 AM on Friday.
I found it to be very informative and enlightening. However they didn't portray Burr well. I was hoping that Peter would BIFF the guy in front of him in the head. Was he totally off base. I though for sure Peter was going to put him in his place. But I guess they wouldn't allow it. That is why we should have our own special highlighting the career and life of Aaron Burr.
The duel was OK. It would have been better if they shown film from our re-enactment. That would have added more flavor to the scene.
Antonio was outstanding and very distinguish. I though he should have gotten up and smacked the guy behind him after Peter BIFFED him and challenged him to a duel.
Only kidding.
It was great seeing the both of you in the show. I was surprised.
Robert Cavaliere
Thanks Bob,
I saw it at 3am Wednesday.
I remember it was about 100 degrees there at the historic Madison Hotel on 60th and First Ave, once owned by John and Abigail Adams, or their daughter etc..
They gave us like five glasses of wine each.
They edited out all my ranting's, but Antonio put a good message across.
Not sure what BIFF means, but if I had a glove, I might have taken it off and whisked it across his face.
Challenging him with the 54 lead is so 18th century.
Here's a short vid I took off the TV.
At least in this scene he says Alex Ham is the conspirator,
(not the winner of the duel.)
Pete
Stuart's Letter to the Editor was published here:
3/28
April 11 at 10pm will be Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton on PBS.
Antonio Burr reenacts the duel and he speaks with Peter in the background at the Society of the Cincinnati scene.
Peter's pistols used in Weehawken are used again in this documentary.
3/10
3/10
Hello Gentlemen,
my name is Vann Mitchell and I am an art dealer in central Florida. I recently purchased the below miniature portrait of Aaron Burr which is signed and dated 1816. The artist is famous American portrait artist John Wesley Jarvis(1780-1820). It is signed, dated and contained in the original frame. While researching the painting I came across your society and appreciate the comprehensive site. I will be selling this painting in the next few days and thought that perhaps one of your members may have interest. I will be selling the painting for 1600 delivered. If by chance anyone is interested please let me know at your earliest convenience. Many thanks.
Vann Mitchell
813 610-5824
2/2 Joseph Alston property is recognized.
1/29/11
Pentagon Cable TV channel, Timeline feature, Fit for Duty show:
I respectfully suggest that on Feb. 6, this year (or, the nearest air day, since Feb. 6 is a Sunday), you carry on your "On this day in history" piece, words to this effect:
"On this day in history, 255 years ago (that is, on Feb. 6, 1756), Col. Aaron Burr, Jr., who would become our nation's third Vice President (serving under Pres. Thomas Jefferson, in his first term), was born in Newark, N.J. During his military career, as an officer-patriot in the American Revolutionary War, Aaron Burr distinguished himself at the battles of Quebec; Brooklyn/Long Island; and Monmouth, N.J., and at an outpost near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania."
Thank you.
Stuart Fisk Johnson, Esq.
President-General of THE AARON BURR ASSOCIATION
1004 Butterworth Lane
Upper Marlboro Md 20774
(301) 336-8222
ABA's Website: www.aaronburrassociation.org
This Vidal story now has legs 1/4/11:
Interesting video of Gore Vidal telling the truth about Burr. 1/3/11
Hi Peter,
This small theater company in New York has two plays about Aaron Burr coming up. Thought that you would be interested.
Your neighbor,
Alinda
(Poor format as copied and pasted)
Playhouse <connect@metropolitanplayhouse.org>
To: alinda
Sent: Fri, Jan 4, 2013 9:00 pm
Subject: Founders Festival Gets Back to the Beginning
Congratulations Teresa Kelsey - Back Stage Magazine 2012
Outstanding Performance in Deep Are the Roots
and now....Metropolitan's 8th Annual Living Literature Festival
Founders Festival
January 14 - 27, 20138 new plays by
7 guest companies
inspired by the writing of the country's
founding fathers and mothers
PLUS an opening night concert and reception
and
A showing of new art in the theater lobby
Schedule
To purchase online
Visit metropolitanplayhouse.org/tickets
Or call
1 800 838 3006
(Mention the "Founders Festival" as well as the title of the individual show.) Tickets:
$18 Adults
$15 Seniors (65+) and Full Time Students
$10 Children*
TDF Accepted at most performances*
FESTIVAL PASS:
Any 4 different programs for $50!
~ Opening Night: January 14 ~
Join us for a wine and cheese reception to open the lobby exhibition
Music by Justin Flagg
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
in order of first performance
(See performance Calendar Below)
Civilized
new plays from the New York Neo-Futurists
(Written, directed and performed by Cecil Baldwin, Meg Bashwiner, Daniel McCoy and Mike Puckett)
In 15 short plays based on George Washington’s Rule of Civility, the New York Neo-Futurists attempt to illuminate and deconstruct our codes of conduct as New Yorkers, Americans and humans, asking the question, “What does it mean to be civilized?”
PLUS - Readings of John and Abigail Adams' remarkable letters
BUY TICKETS
New York Neo-Futurists websiteNYNF Facebook
The Parchment Copy (performed with From Shore to Shore)
by Dan Evans, A LuLu LoLo Production
July 4, 1776: the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the birth of our new nation. August 2, 1776 : the Continental Congress reconvened to actually sign the great document. On the eve of the signing, at Benjamin Franklin’s home in Philadelphia, eight leading Patriots are drawn together in these perilous times that try men’s souls.
BUY TICKETS
LuLu LoLo website
From Shore To Shore (performed with The Parchment Copy)
written and performed by LuLu LoLo, A Lulu Lolo Production
A one-person performance of a farcical melodrama portraying the ghostly laments of Aaron Burr and his daughter, Theodosia Burr Alston, as they haunt the shorelines of Battery Park and South Carolina. Burr, remembered as the man who killed Alexander Hamilton, was also a visionary who advocated the rights of women.
BUY TICKETS
From Shore to Shore photos
A Servant For Life
by Andrea Pinyan. A Radio Hound Production
Thomas Jefferson - a founding father with conflicting beliefs on slavery.
Phillis Wheatley - a slave who earned her freedom through her poetry.
When these two come face to face in an imagined conversation, she will question his attitudes towards her race - and he will challenge her definition of freedom.
BUY TICKETS
A Room In The Middle
by Vladimir Zelevinsky
1787, Massachusetts. Farmers, returning from the Revolutionary War, find their homes in foreclosure—and decide to protest, starting what will be known as Shays' Rebellion. After a disastrous attempt to take the Springfield arsenal, the surviving rebels are pursued through the blizzard by a superior force of state regulars. Three rebels are cornered in an abandoned farmhouse and have less than an hour to decide whether they give up or die.
BUY TICKETS
Revolt! Death! And Taxes!
by Zero Boy
The Boston Revolt sparked the American Revolution and Independence. The man that all the founding fathers thought of as the founder was Sam Adams. Beer maker or muckraker? Riot leader or politician? Zero Boy takes you on sonic, comic, and visual journey to Boston and England to learn what really happened!
BUY TICKETS
Zero Boy's Website
Your Colonel
by Montgomery Sutton
In July 1776, the Declaration of Independence is the last thing on the mind of young Colonel
Aaron Burr. As the British fleet invades Staten Island, Burr’s illicit romance with the teenage daughter of a British Major and his longstanding battle of principles with George Washington collide, propelling him towards becoming our most vilified founding father.
*For Your Colonel, there is no children's rate, and TDF vouchers will not be accepted
BUY TICKETS
Your Colonel website
JAJ Productions presents
My First Lady
by David Koteles
March 1801: You are cordially invited to join Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and Thomas Jefferson’s daughters for an afternoon of tea and pleasantries at the newly-opened President’s House. All slaves must be left at the door. My First Lady seeks to explore how a tea party becomes a battle of race, class, and gender in the New American Republic.
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Aaron Burr, Down (But Not Out) in Paris and London---
March 11, 2011 (2d Rev.)
The year is 1811, two centuries ago now, and Aaron Burr--our nation’s “most romanticized and vilified historical character” according to historian Gordon Wood--is sitting comfortably ensconced in his cabin on the vessel off the coast of Holland that is to take him back to America after years of self-exile in Europe. Burr is writing the latest entry in the journal which details all the vicissitudes of his stays in Britain, Sweden, Germany and France.
Burr is, in 1811, at the end of a highly tumultuous decade in his life, beginning with the voting in the House of Representatives in February 1801, 36 ballots needed to finally break the Jefferson-Burr tie in presidential Electoral College voting.
As Jefferson’s vice-president 1801-1805, Burr had little power or influence. Deciding that his political future lay in New York, Burr ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1804. In the course of that election, Alexander Hamilton, Burr’s political opponent for many years, disparaged Burr’s personal character one too many times, and Burr was the survivor of their duel fought on the banks of the Hudson in July 1804.
A month later, and while still vice president, Burr was in touch with the British minister plenipotentiary in Washington, who wrote to London of Burr’s offer to assist His Majesty’s Government “to effect a separation of the Western part of the United States from that which lies between the Atlantic and the Appalachian mountains.”
In early 1805--just after presiding as president of the Senate over the impeachment trial of Justice Chase--Burr wrote his son in law that “in New York I am to be disfranchised and in New Jersey hanged. Having substantial objections to both, I shall not, for the present, hazard either, but shall seek another country.”
The most recent historical verdict on Burr’s subsequent adventures in the West is that “No one will ever know what Burr was really up to”; the jury in Burr’s 1807 trial in Richmond, Virginia for another capital offense, treason, acquitted him, despite Jefferson’s best efforts to see Burr hang.
Burr laid low for several months after the Richmond treason trial, dodging both creditors and a lesser criminal charge in Ohio, before setting sail for Britain under an assumed name in June 1808. It would be four years before he returned to American soil.
As the “most romanticized and vilified” characterization of Burr might suggest, there is debate continuing to the present day between Burr partisans and Burr detractors concerning the character of Burr’s conduct in the 1801 election deadlock, the 1804 duel, and the 1806-1807 Western venture, namely: was Burr actually angling to be President, did he fire first or second in the duel, was he actually trying to dismember the Union, was he a debaucher of women (as charged in the 1804 New York election)?
But how to judge Burr’s character, when Burr himself was generally so secretive? (As Gordon Wood notes, Burr’s correspondence is full of “ ‘Burn this letter.’ You never find Thomas Jefferson saying, ‘Burn this letter.’ “)
In the past dozen years alone, there have appeared three books on the treason trial, two books on the duel, two on the 1800 election, and the first biography of Burr by an academic historian. Also in these years, Roger G. Kennedy, director emeritus of the National Museum of American History, devoted a book to proving that Burr’s character was superior to the characters of Jefferson and Hamilton.
Kennedy argues that while Jefferson was obsessed with leaving a huge collection of self-serving writings to shore up his character for posterity, “the wonder is how little Burr had to say for himself. ... If he wished posterity to think well of him, it would have been better had he thought well enough of it to engage it in a conversation.”
What we propose is that Burr did engage posterity in a conversation--through his journal of his four years in Europe, and in particular the years 1810-1812, when he was down financially, but not out psychologically, in Paris and London. The journal was not written for posterity, it was written for Burr’s beloved only child Theodosia, in contemplation of a reunion which never happened.
However, Burr did choose to leave the journal behind for posterity, when, having survived Theodosia, he could easily have destroyed it--as Kennedy, turned off by Burr’s multitudinous “accountant’s notations of sexual encounters for pay,” clearly wishes Burr had done.
By quoting here extensively--for the first time any authors have done so--from Burr’s journal, we hope to give the reader some further basis for an assessment of the character issue, and, at the least, can promise these excerpts, a sort of Burr “greatest hits”, will be not only entertaining but also enlightening concerning a hitherto obscure period in Burr’s life. As an added dividend, the reader may learn something from Burr’s success in standing up to adversity.
So let us return to the 1811 scene on the ship which Burr (mistakenly) believes is about to transport him back home to his daughter Theodosia:
My baggage is all embarked. I have been on board the Vigilant, the ship which is to bear me to thee. ... I feel as if I were already on the way to see you and my heart beats with joy. Yet, alas! that country which I am so anxious to re-visit will perhaps reject me with horror. There seems to be no obstacle between us, and I almost fancy I see you and Gampy [Theodosia’s son, Burr’s grandson], with the sheep about the door, and he “driving the great ram with a little stick.” I forgot that the little island of Great Britain lies between us, and what is worse, their ships; there are now four of them in full sight not two leagues off. But, as we have neither merchandise nor Frenchmen on board, I think they will let us go on. [Burr is wrong about this].
After his ship is in fact intercepted and impounded by the British, Burr has time in London to write further in his journal--all addressed to Theodosia--describing his cabin on the Vigilant:
My headache prevented me from telling you with what regret I took leave of my little cabin, where I had passed eighteen days with so much comfort. You know that I was on board eight days before the ship sailed, lying at anchor off Helder. “How should I know anything about it, for you never wrote me a word all that period?” Now, however, you do know it, hussy; so don’t interrupt me, but let me go on with my story. That eight days, I say, were employed fitting up my cabin. I bought boards and nails. We had two carpenters and a joiner on board. I had shelves for my books, so that about 300 volumes were put up; a table to be let down at pleasure; places for candlesticks, for my breakfast apparatus (as I always took breakfast in my own room), for bottles, &c. In short, for everything. We had rough weather, and were much tossed and rolled; not an article in my cabin was shaken from its place, though in every other all went topsyturvy. My little room was the envy of the whole. It was a great privilege for any lady or gentleman to be permitted to enter. Ma bonne petite Julie had always that privilege. [Throughout his life, women found Burr attractive--a few pages earlier, he writes:] La V. spelt hard for an invitation to my cabin; but J. had possession, and she shall maintain her privilege whoever else may pretend. She has just now gone to her berth.
Stuck in London, and with his hopes of a speedy return to Theodosia dashed, Burr soon experiences another of his many reversals in fortune in Paris and London, where he is as down and out, financially and (briefly) psychologically, as George Orwell ever was in the same two cities in the 1920s.
Like Orwell, Burr frequently resorts to pawning his possessions to raise funds for food and lodging. In London, having just bought some food, and having all but exhausted his cash, Burr writes:
Without a penny, I can keep the animal machine agoing for eight days. ...
Of the five pieces of cambric which I bought for you in Flanders, and should have presented you if our voyage had not been interrupted, four have already been sold and mange’d; the fifth, the last, and most beautiful, was handed yesterday to D.M. Randolph [more on this character below] to sell, and I am now, this morning, waiting at home his return. In the meantime I have been rummaging among Gampillo’s treasures to see what might be convertible into money. Found, and have taken possession of, a Napoleon and a Dutch ducat of King Louis; both new and brilliant. If D.M.R. does not come before 12, they must go. Poor dear souls! if I should remain here six weeks longer, you will neither of you have a single evidence that you were thought of in any of the countries in which I have been. You see, mes enfants, that I have now no reliance but my vinegar [a scheme described below], and to plunder you both of all your remaining bagatelles. ... Have left in cash 2 halfpence, which is much better than one penny, because they jingle, and thus one may refresh one’s self with the music.
Again and again, scenes like the following are repeated:
Tried, on my way home, at several places, to pawn your picture-watch, which ought to be worth 50 guineas; but they would not give more than 3 pounds, which refused. As I approached my home, ruminated how to get dinner and supper (coffee), for I had neither bread, butter, cheese, nor sugar.
But through many expedients, enough small sums do come to hand to maintain Burr in shelter and nourishment.
Burr’s journal includes a number of vivid character sketches. Here’s one of Burr’s frequent companion D.M. Randolph--like Burr, down on his luck in London:
But, first, let me make you better acquainted with the said D.M.R. He is about 60 years of age, very healthy and active; has good sound sense, little education, or little acquirement. He came to England about six months before me, with commercial views, having got through his fortune in Virginia. He had very good letters, being universally acknowledged an honest and an honorable man. At the moment that he supposed himself in the high road to success and fortune, came on [Jefferson’s] embargo, which put an end to all commerce, and annihilated his proposals. He then got from the United States Bedford’s patent for making shoes, and took out a patent for it here; but, for more than a year, he could get no moneyed men to set up the business in that way. At length W. Gilpin, army clothier, agreed to try it, and advanced D.M.R. 500 pounds for the patent rights and half the profits. This was a very seasonable relief, for he was quite run out. He now thought he would invent something himself, and turned his mind to improvements in wheel-carriages. He worked day and night for some months; at length, thinking he had hit it, and for fear some one should steal it from him, he hastened to take out a patent, and then wrote a pamphlet; but no mortal took any notice of either. Being now project mad and one Adams having come from the United States with a new project for impelling boats by steam, D.M.R. associated himself with this man; bought half the invention for 200 pounds, and at this moment Adams dies, and the steamboat and the wheel-carriages sleep quietly together; but D.M.R. had now got rid of his last farthing. His head, however, runs more on wheel-carriages than on all other subjects. At least twenty times since my return to this island he has told me of his having explained “his principles” to Mr. Such-a-one, who was “delighted;” and scarce a week passes but he meets some one who is thus “delighted;” but of all these delighted people not one is disposed to advance a penny to make an experiment of “his principles.” Whenever he gets on his “wheel-carriages,” away he goes, and the devil can’t stop him. He can hardly pass a cart or a carriage in the street without stopping you or calling your attention to the amazing stupidity and obstinacy which prevents people from adopting his improvements. “Only see how those horses labor for nothing; whereas if that axle-tree was so and so, and the height of the wheels so, and the pole fixed so, one horse would draw more than those four; and the thing is so demonstrable,” &c., &c. [Some weeks later:] I completed the draft of a power of attorney for D.M. Randolph, to be sent off by this packet. I wished to have written you by the same opportunity, but the 4 shillings and 6 pence requisite for postage is a fatal objection. D.M.R. having four three shilling-pieces, lent me two of them; but one proved a counterfeit. He was in good spirits, having met one of his country acquaintance some time ago who was “delighted with his principles on wheel carriages.” This is certainly very nearly allied to insanity.
Burr encounters a similar dreamer in Paris, a Colonel Swan, for whom Burr draws a will. Swan is housed in the Ste. Pelagie debtor’s prison, and Burr visits him there often. Swan’s obsession is Merino sheep:
Then on to Pelagie, where dined with Swan. The important concern is about Merino sheep. No doubt there is a great deal of money to be made by it, but it is out of my line. [A week later:] I passed an hour with Swan, talking principally of sheep. [The next day:] A note also from Swan. Still sheep!
The story of Colonel Swan, although not told by Burr, is fascinating and worth recounting here. Swan was a year younger than Burr, and, like Burr, a Revolutionary War hero, having participated in the Boston Tea Party and being twice wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1784, Swan purchased and named Swan’s Island in Maine; in 1898, a resident of that island, Dr. H.W. Small, wrote an island history, including the story, quoted below, of how Swan landed in the Paris debtor’s prison:
After the Revolution, Colonel Swan went deeply in debt, due to land speculations that turned out badly. To retrieve his fortune, he left for Paris in 1787, and made a new fortune through contracts to supply the French armies. Unfortunately, Swan again came to grief when “it was claimed he had contracted a debt of 2,000,000 francs. This indebtedness he denied, and refused to pay. He was caused to be arrested by the French government, and confined for twenty-two years in Ste. Pelagie, the debtors’ prison, from the year 1808 to 1830. Swan proposed to remain a prisoner rather than secure his liberty on an unjust plea. He proposed by a life-long captivity, if necessary, to protest against his pretended creditor’s injustice. He gave up his wife, children, friends, and the comforts of his Parisian and New England homes for a principle.”
“Swan seemed happy in braving his creditors. He allowed his beard to grow, dressed a la mode, and was cheerful to the last day of his confinement. When the Revolution of 1830 discharged these prisoners from Ste. Pelagie ... his one desire was to embrace his friend, General Lafayette. This he did on the steps of the Hotel de Ville. The next morning, Col. Swan was dead. He was seized with a hemorrhage, and died suddenly on the steps of the Rue d’Echiquier ...”
With money sent to Swan from his wife back in Boston, Swan “hired apartments in the Rue de la Clif, opposite Ste. Pelagie, which he caused to be outfitted up at great expense, with dining room, drawing room, stables, coaches and outhouses. Here he invited his friends and lodged his servants, putting at the disposal of the former his carriages, in which they drove to the promenade, the ball, the theatre, everywhere in his name. At his Parisian home, he gave great dinners to his guests, at which there was always a place left for the absent one at the table [i.e., Swan himself, imprisoned across the street].”
Quite a story! Burr does not mention this establishment, possibly because Burr met Swan at the Ste. Pelagie prison only two years into Swan’s twenty-two year imprisonment there, and perhaps the apartments opposite the prison mentioned in the Swan’s Island history were set up after Burr’s departure from France.
But after this digression, revenons a nos moutons, as Dr. Pangloss said to Candide, and quite literally to sheep here, because Swan was in fact onto something with the Merino sheep, although neither he nor Burr was in a position to exploit this insight. Here’s what happened very soon after Swan talked about the Merinos with Burr:
The Spanish royal farms at El Escorial “had developed a breed of sheep with some of the longest, most luxuriant fleeces in the world. The Spanish nobility had long been hoarding the breed to prevent competition. But during the political upheaval surrounding Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, the American consul in Lisbon, William Jarvis, was able to talk the Spanish royals into selling him a flock of their finest Merinos. In 1811, he sent 400 of them, along with a Spanish shepherd and ‘noble shepherd dog,’ to his new farm on the Connecticut River.” J. Albers, Hands on the Land, p.145 (2000). The Merino sheep industry soon took off, especially in Vermont, where the “sheep of kings became the king of sheep.”
While sheep did in fact prove to be ‘the next new thing’, none of Burr’s various dreams of hitting it big panned out. He does mention having one unusual talent that could have made him some money in Paris, but he must have thought it beneath his dignity to pursue it for financial gain:
Rose 7. At 1/2 p. 8 to Madame Fenwick’s [one of Burr’s several lady friends in Paris] in the character of a fumiste [chimney doctor]. Every chimney in the house smokes sometimes, and most of them always. I was railing against the stupidity of the Parisians, and quoted this among other instances. She challenged me to cure the evil. Accepted; and she assigned for trial of my American skill the worst in the house. It has already been in the hands of several scientific fumistes. Some applied their remedies to the top, and others to the bottom, but equally without effect. This morning was assigned for my experiment, and she gave me carte blanche. At 1/2 p. 8 I found the mason, the brick and the mortar. We went to work. She, in the meantime, made me breakfast (cafe blanc and honey) in the adjoining room. She amused herself at my folly. Several visitors called and all came in to see what was going forward. “Ah! c’est trop etroit. Ca n’a pas assez de profondeur. La gorge est trop petite.” I made no sort of reply. At length, the work was finished at 4. We made a large fire. The chimney drew to perfection. The doors and windows might be open or shut; nothing disturbed the draught. What added greatly to the merit of the result is, that the day was the most unfavorable, a vehement wind from the quarter that had always filled the house with smoke. “Monsieur, si vous enoncierez comme fumiste, vous feriez fortune.”
Burr’s detractors called him a schemer, but in Paris and London, he was more of a dreamer; at least dreams like the following served to keep Burr’s spirits up:
Am much stared at here [in Yarmouth]. Think of showing Gamp [Burr’s nickname for himself] for about 2 shillings each person; half price for children. Have this evening changed my last bill, being one of 10 pounds, to pay my host; voila mes montres deja manges, et encore je dois a ma hotesse a Londres. But having made more than a million of guineas last night, as you shall know anon, feel quite easy, and give with great liberality to the domestics, &c. When last in New York, the steamboat had just got into vogue. Being in company with a man knowing in such things, I suggested (but very slightly, as becomes an ignoramus), how the thing might be simplified and improved. He thought the hint of no value, and I said no more. My friend D.M.R., and another, whom I met at Graves’s, both great projectors, have taken patents for inventions on that subject. I examined their several models, but was not smitten with their value. My old idea ran now and then in my head, but said nothing. Ruminating, after going to bed last night, on the state of the treasury, the thing came up again, and engrossed me for at least three hours. I found it perfect; applied it to sea-vessels, to ships of war; in short, to everything that floats. Sails and masts and rigging and the whole science of seamanship, are become useless. My vessels go at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and am in hopes to bring them to thirty. From Charleston [Theodosia’s home] to New York will be a certain passage of thirty hours; from New York to London of six days; but to tell half I did would fill a quire of paper. Rose at 9 this morning; the same project in my head, and have thought of nothing else the whole day. The moment of my arrival in London shall sell all my books; your books, poor little Gampillo; and all my clothes, save two shirts, to put the thing in execution; and so soon as I get this million, Lord! what pretty things will buy for thee and Gampillo. Laid out, however, a great deal of money last night. Thought of the faithful in the United States. Bon soir.
Burr has a similar dream in Paris, in hopes that a Dutch stock speculation will make him rich:
Now, if I can get a passport to Bremen and Amsterdam, I will send you a million of francs within six months; but one-half of it must be laid out on pretty things. Oh, what beautiful things I will send you! Gampillus, too, shall have a beautiful little watch, and at least fifty trumpets of different sorts and sizes. Home at 10, and have been casting up my millions and spending it. Lord, how many people have I made happy!
A couple of Burr’s other European money-making schemes are worth a mention. The first involved a method of making vinegar from wood which Burr first learned of in Paris. In the following scene, noteworthy as an example of Burr’s famous ability to charm or ‘get round’ a person in pursuit of his various enterprises, Burr and his friend D.M. Randolph are visiting a factory outside of London:
Were shown into an office where was Mr. Wilkes, the managing partner, dressed very coarsely, and even dirty, with an old, greasy hat on his head. Showed him Reeves’s permission. “Who is this man who writes this note?” I told him who was Mr. Reeves. [Reeves was a minor figure in the British Alien Office who obliged Burr on numerous occasions]. “Why, by God, I don’t know the man! ... By God, sir, this is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard in my life! A fellow I never saw gives a man permission to come and examine my manufactories!” He was going on, and, doubtless, would have concluded by turning us out of doors; but I interposed; told him that I was, as he saw by the note, an American, and about to leave England in a few days; that I had no desire nor curiosity to see his manufactories, but that I had understood that, in the process, he procured a sort of acid of little value; that, having been lately on the Continent, I had seen that acid employed to important purposes; and, happening to mention it to Mr. Reeves, he thought the discovery of very great value, and that it was totally unknown here; that the sole object of my visit was to get a barrel of that acid; and that, if I could succeed in the process it would render the acid of very great value; that Mr. Reeves had informed me he had understood that Mr. Wilkes was a very polite gentleman, and had no doubt that he (Mr. W.) would take pleasure in gratifying me in a matter so essential to his own interest and to that of the public. “Now, sir, if you are not disposed to do so, I have only to beg your pardon for the trouble and bid you good-morning.” The idea of gain softened his muscles; he asked us to sit. Sent a servant to bring some of the acid for my inspection; ordered a bottle to be washed, and filled, and well corked for me; offered to send a servant with it to my lodgings, to save me the trouble of carrying it; gave me the address of his agent in London, and promised to send, by his own wagon, a barrel of the acid to my friend Allen immediately. I asked what would be the expense. “Oh! nothing at all, sir; my teams are going constantly, and it will give me no trouble; you may, if you please, only send an empty barrel to my agent, to replace the one I shall transmit.” I came off with my bottle of acid, quite content. ... The moment [the barrel of acid] arrives, friend Allen and I shall go to work, and, if I succeed, most certainly I shall have some hundred guineas of it.
To make a long story short, Burr did not make a hundred guineas, or indeed any money at all, from his vinegar venture.
As a last resort to raise funds for his passage back to America, Burr tries to exploit the knowledge of dentistry he had gained in Paris. After being held up for a full year in Paris for lack of a passport, Burr writes, after one of his final visits to his denture-maker:
To Fonzi’s, where nearly finished everything. It is nearly worth the twelve months I have been detained here to have got so well dentified.
Burr writes of his hope that what he has learned in Paris about dentures may prove valuable in London:
Reading over Fonzi’s pamphlet, it occurred to me that my knowledge of his art might be turned to good account here. Went off to see Delmehant, the most celebrated in that line, for the purpose. He had moved and could not discover the address. … I was so much with Fonzi at Paris that I became as good a dentist as himself; and, on coming off, he confided to me an assortment, perhaps one thousand, of teeth of his fabrique. I had intended this for Greenwood; but; but it occurred to me that something might be made of the dents and my science here. Have called on three of the most celebrated dentists. The first was engaged, and was not seen; the second was engaged, but I saw him, and made an appointment to call Saturday next. The third I had a long talk with; he showed me his own fabrique, which I was constrained to acknowledge was fully equal to Fonzi’s; and, indeed, I think, for beauty, superior, but not solid; he, however, held Fonzi’s in contempt, so nothing to be done. Tomorrow will make further trial. It is unpleasant and unpromising.
Once again, nothing comes of this latest attempt to scare up money.
At this point, one might wonder why Burr, who was, after all, along with Hamilton, among the most successful lawyers in New York City in the 1790’s, cannot earn some money in London, advising on American law. His answer to that question is that he must bend all his efforts toward reuniting with Theodosia and his grandson (his anxiety concerning the reception he will receive back in the U.S. notwithstanding):
If I should think of residing permanently here, I could readily find the means of support. But I prefer to have my throat cut nearer you. ... You see I am in earnest. Yes, I will go; I will see you and Gampillo, if I am hanged for it the next day. Now I will make a cipher letter of two lines to you to announce the fact. ... Shall not write you again in London. Shall be too busy to think of you. No, that’s a lie. Shall think of nothing else but you and Gampillo. It is you that animate and impel me. ... And now, at 12 midnight, having packed up my little residue of duds into that same unfortunate little sack, and stowed my scattering papers into my writing-case, I repose, smoking my pipe, and contemplating the certainty of escaping from this country, the certainty of seeing you! Those are my only pleasing anticipations. For as to my reception in my own country, so far as depends on the government, if I may judge from the conduct of their agents in every part of Europe, I ought to expect all the efforts of the most implacable malice. This, however, does not give me a moment’s uneasiness. I feel myself able to meet and repel them. My private debts are a subject of some little solicitude; but a confidence in my own industry and resources does not permit me to despond, not even to doubt. If there be nothing better to be done, I shall set about making money in every lawful and honorable way. ... My great and only real anxiety is for your health. If your constitution should be ruined, and you become the victim of disease, I shall have no attachment to life or motive to exertion.
Burr is not exaggerating when he speaks of the “implacable malice” of U.S. officials abroad, stemming from Jefferson’s extreme frustration when Burr wins acquittal of the treason charges in 1807:
“The event has been what was evidently intended from the beginning of the trial that is to say, not only to clear Burr, but to prevent the evidence from ever going before the world. ... The criminal is preserved to become the rallying point of all the disaffected and worthless of the United States, and to be the point on which all the intrigues and conspiracies which foreign Governments may wish to disturb us with are to turn.”
In Paris, Burr indeed hopes--but fails--to interest Napoleon in underwriting his Western schemes, and American consular officials succeed in keeping Burr for a full year in Paris, before the Duc de Bassano at last helps Burr wrest the needed passport authorization from them.
After innumerable delays and setbacks caused by the American authorities, and various false starts, Burr eventually does find a ship to take him home at last, and he finds money to pay for his passage. After a harrowing sea voyage, he arrives in Boston in May 1812 using the assumed name of Arnot to avoid creditors and the risk of landing in debtors’ prison. Burr now needs to pass the U.S. customs collector maintaining his incognito. The third vice-president of the United States makes an entertaining story of this ‘near run thing’ (to borrow Wellington’s description of his victory over Napoleon at Waterloo three years later):
Dearborn, the collector, knows me as well as you do, having seen me hundreds of times in public and private; for me to go direct to him to take an oath and demand a permit in the name of Arnot, seemed to be an experiment that promised little success, and, in case of discovery, might expose me to serious inconvenience, as the family of Dearborn have been extremely vindictive against me, and no doubt would, under pretence of searching for goods, have possessed themselves of my papers. On the other hand, to spend $20 out of $32, which is my whole stock, in going to Newburyport [the next stop for the ship that brought Burr to America] and returning my things by land might disable me from ever getting out of Boston. I preferred, therefore, the contingent to the certain evil. Took with me a young man to show me the way to the custom-house, and entered with all possible composure; passed under the nose of Mr. Dearborn into the adjoining room, where the first part of the business was to be done. The officer to whom it was directed asked me to enumerate my effects. ... I repeated them off as fast as he could write, though they consisted of eighteen different articles; trunks, boxes, portmanteaus, bundles, rolls, &c. He then bade me sign my name to it, which I did thus: A. Arnot; I think that is very like it. Then he directed me to take it to the collector, who would sign it; here was the rub. I told the young man, my conductor, to take the list and get it signed for me, for that I was obliged to run as fast as possible to see after my things, the ship being just about to haul out. He took it, and I got out as fast as I could, passing again under the nose of Dearborn. I do assure thee that I felt something lighter when I got down to the street.
Burr’s next move in Boston is to write to his loyal lieutenant in New York, Sam Swartout, to ask how the land now lies for Burr in New York. Sam answers with a letter,
containing a pretty full answer to my queries, with assurance that I have very many and warm friends and no enemies [in New York]. The letter is stamped with that enthusiasm which marks his character. As regards business, however, things are not propitious. The two creditors who have judgments against me are inexorable. Nothing will satisfy them but money or approved security, neither of which are in my power. The alternative is to be taken on execution and go to the limits [debtor’s prison]. To this I should have no great repugnance in point of pride or feeling, but there are two objections pretty cogent; first, and principally, you. I fear your little heart would sink to hear that Gamp was on the limits. To be sure, if you could come here and see how gay he was, be supported by the light of his countenance, and catch inspiration from his lips, you would forget that he was not in paradise. The second is, that I have a project of entering into the holy state of matrimony. The charming object is already designated, and love, almighty love! The fair object is a worthy lady some few years older than myself, with fortune enough, and, I think, good-nature enough to make that appropriation of it. Now, this fine sentimental project would be utterly defeated by the limits-establishment. [The next day:] Have ruminated beaucoup on that limits arrangement. It has even its advantages. I should then be more at my ease; should have nothing to apprehend; could pay my debts in the order I pleased; could live better, be exempt from the trouble of paying visits. On the other hand, there are the weighty objections before stated. I am sure your pride would suffer to have Gamp in jail for debt, for it would be called being in jail. You have already suffered too much on my account, and I come now to sacrifice myself in any way and every way; that of marriage is one, and no hope of that while a prisoner; and as to payment of my debts, if I am confined to the mere practice of the law, debarred from all those speculations in which I might engage if at large, it will be the work of many years, and in all that time I could do you little or no good.
A few pages later, Burr’s thousand-page journal of his 1808-12 self-exile concludes with this entry:
And here I am, in possession of Sam’s room in Stone street, in the city of New York, on this 8th day of June, anno dom. 1812, just four years since we parted at this very place.
Summing Up.
Vinegar from wood! French dentures! Sheep! Carriage-wheels! Stock and land speculations! Marrying a wealthy woman! Compared with these exciting ideas for riches, “the mere practice of law”, at which Burr actually excelled, seemed less appealing, but it kept him going for the remainder of his life. Jefferson and his fellow Virginians Madison and Monroe, the Virginia dynasty of Presidents from 1801 to 1825, with their hundreds of slaves, could maintain the lifestyle of the 18th century English landed aristocracy, to which Burr aspired, but which he--like his fellow dreamers Swan and Randolph--could never quite bring off. Still, Burr did achieve his goal of staying out of debtor’s prison, and did, very late in life, marry a rich woman, the richest in the United States.
In 1815, three years after his return, Burr wrote Theodosia’s husband, Joseph Alston:
I have found it so difficult to answer that part of your letter which regards myself and my concerns, that it has been deferred, though often in my mind. At some other time I may give you, in detail, a sketch of the sad period which has elapsed since my return. For the present, it will suffice to say that my business affords me a decent support. If I had not been interrupted in the career which I began, I should before this have paid all my debts and been at ease.
My old creditors (principally the holders of the Mexican debt) came upon me with vindictive fury. I was held to bail in large sums, and saw no probability of keeping out of prison for six months. This danger is still menacing, but not quite so imminent. I shall neither borrow nor receive from any one, not even from you. I have determined not to begin to pay unless I see a prospect of paying all.
Of course, Alston already knew of the saddest part of Burr’s “sad period” after returning to America: the death of Alston’s wife, and Burr’s only child, Theodosia--lost at sea on a voyage from Charleston to New York--and the death of Alston’s only child, and Burr’s only grandchild, ‘Gampillo’, referred to by Burr so often in his journal.
The letter’s “had I not been interrupted in the career which I began” is poignant as well. How different Burr’s life would have been had he not won the 1800 election for Jefferson, by securing the swing Electoral College votes Jefferson needed in New York to defeat John Adams. However, Burr lived on for another 21 years, offering a good deal of comfort for young men and women whom he raised as his adopted children, and left his European journal for us to make of it what we will in attempting to put a value on the character of this much contested American figure.
{Endnote or box: Gordon Wood writes that “Burr certainly sought to live the life of an eighteenth century aristocratic gentleman” but notes in a separate work that Burr and others who “sought to establish their genteel independence by acquiring landed estates could not fulfill their ambitions of emulating the English landed aristocracy [s]ince land in the New World was a far riskier investment than it was in England”, as Burr himself found out. Nevertheless, the lifestyle of the English landed aristocracy remained highly appealing to the American political elite of Burr’s generation, for the reasons stated by English intellectual historian Basil Willey in this classic account:
“The first half of the eighteenth century was a period in which the English aristocracy enjoyed about as near an approach to earthly felicity as has ever been known by man. They had most of the wealth, all the political power and all the social influence in the country. The monkish and superstitious Middle Ages lay far off in the dark backward and abysm of time; and the conflicts of the seventeenth century, so uncouth and so theological, which had for long interfered with their full enjoyment of the splendid plunder of the Reformation--all these were over and done with. The Crown had lost its power to strike, and the Church was docile. The vulgar, not yet indoctrinated with nonsense about the Rights of Man, were content with the lot to which an inscrutable Providence had fortunately assigned them; or, if not, they consoled themselves with gin, or (as advised by the clergy and the more conventional moralists) with thoughts of the future life. ... At this distance of time we can afford to yield a measure of (not necessarily ironic) admiration to so perfect, if so brief, a phase of civilization.”}
Authors:
John Endicott Jane Merrill