“After Colonel Burr’s return to New York, he was nominated by the Federal party for Governor of the State; this was the first open announcement of his having deserted the Republican party.  Hamilton threw all his influence against him, and he was defeated.  This defeat sublimated his hatred for Hamilton.  He made an excuse of certain words Hamilton had used in relation to him for challenging him.  They met, and Hamilton fell.  The death of Hamilton overthrew the little remaining popularity left to Burr.  The nation, the world, turned upon him, and he became desperate.

“Burr’s term as Vice-President terminated on the fourth of March, 1805.  The odium which attached to his name found universal utterance after the duel.  It was not simply the killing of Hamilton; this merely gave occasion for the outburst of public indignation.  His private character had always been bad.  As a member of the Legislature, he had so conducted himself as to excite general suspicion of his integrity.  His desertion of the party elevating him to the Vice-Presidency, and lending himself to the opposition party to defeat the clearly expressed views of his own party, all combined to make him extremely odious to the populace.

“In the canvass for the Presidency, he had been mainly instrumental in carrying the State of New York for the Republican party.  In this he had triumphed over Hamilton; but in the more recent contest for Governor of the State, he found that the Republican party adhered to principle, and refused to be controlled by him, repudiating his every advance; and learned, also, that the Federal party would not unite in accepting him.  Defeated on every side, in all his views, and mainly through the instrumentality of Hamilton, he determined, after killing his rival, if possible, to destroy the Government.

“There was nothing unfair, or out of the ordinary method of conducting such affairs, in this duel.  Hamilton’s eldest son, but a little while before, had been slain, in a duel, on the very spot where his father fell, and the event created little or no excitement; and when Burr saw himself met with universal scorn, he knew it was the eruption of an accumulated hatred toward himself, and that all his ambition for future preferment and power was at an end.  Immediately he left for the West, and commenced an abortive effort to break up the Union.

“The Allegheny Mountains opposed, at that time, an obstacle to free communication with the East.  The States west were politically weak, and, supposing their interests were neglected by Congress, were restless and dissatisfied.  This was especially true of Western Pennsylvania.  There were very many young and ambitious men in all the Western States and Territories.  Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio were rapidly populating from the Eastern and Middle States.  Their commercial communication with the East was attended with so many difficulties as to force it almost entirely to New Orleans.