Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 during Thomas Jefferson's first presidential term. He was a co-founder of the Bank of New York, which he founded in June 1784 along with Alexander Hamilton. He founded the Manhattan Company on September 1, 1799. His legacy is defined by his famous personal and political conflict with Hamilton, which culminated in the Burr–Hamilton duel in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11, 1804, during which Burr mortally wounded Hamilton, who died from his wounds the following day. Burr was born to a prominent family in what was then the Province of New Jersey. After studying theology at Princeton University, he began his career as a lawyer before joining the Continental Army as an officer in the American Revolutionary War in 1775. After leaving military service in 1779, Burr practiced law in New York City, where he became a leading politician and helped form the new Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party. As a New York assemblyman in 1785, he supported a bill to end slavery, despite having owned slaves himself. In 1791, Burr was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1797. He would later run as the Democratic-Republican presidential candidate in the 1800 election. An electoral college tie between Burr and Thomas Jefferson resulted in the House of Representatives voting in Jefferson's favor, with Burr becoming Jefferson's vice president due to receiving the second-highest share of the votes. Although Burr maintained that he supported Jefferson, the president was somewhat at odds with Burr, who was relegated to the sidelines of the administration during his vice presidency and was not selected as Jefferson's running mate in 1804 after the ratification of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. During his last year as vice president, Burr engaged in the duel in which he fatally shot Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury and his political rival, near where Hamilton's son Philip Hamilton had died three years prior. Although dueling was illegal, Burr was never tried and all charges against him were eventually dropped. Nevertheless, Hamilton's death ended Burr's political career.