Aaron Burr appears in these excerpts not as a subject but as a figure who crosses the path of other stories. He is named in three episodes, each time in a supporting role: as the killer of Alexander Hamilton in a duel, as the man who lost a tied presidential election in the House of Representatives, and as the presiding officer at an impeachment trial. The excerpts supply no biography, no account of his public career, and no assessment of his constitutional views.
The duel and the Reynolds affair
In a 2013 episode on political scandals, Bob Zadek turned to the history of sexual misbehavior in American politics and recounted the affair between Alexander Hamilton and Maria Reynolds. Hamilton, whom Zadek described as George Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, had an affair with Reynolds, who was married and whose husband, Zadek said, likely knew of the affair and blackmailed Hamilton. Zadek stated that Hamilton paid the blackmail, that the affair and the payments came out, and that in 1796 Hamilton published a long public apology, including the love letters he had written to Reynolds, explaining that while his behavior was terrible he had not otherwise violated the public trust. Zadek noted an accusation that Hamilton used public money to pay the blackmail, which he said was never seriously maintained. California Dreamin’ – About Sane Government (2013)
As a postscript to that account, Zadek raised Burr. He said that Burr killed Hamilton in a duel on the cliffs of Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1803, a date he gave with some qualification. He added, as a side note on history, that Burr was Maria Reynolds’ divorce lawyer. Both statements are offered in passing, as asides within a discussion of whether voters should weigh the private sexual conduct of candidates such as Elliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner; the excerpt does not develop either point. California Dreamin’ – About Sane Government (2013)
The election of 1800
Burr figures more substantially in a 2019 episode on Benjamin Rush, in which Harlo Unger described the election of 1800 and Rush’s later role in reconciling John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Unger said the election was bitter and that Jefferson did not actually win it, although he defeated Adams. The Electoral College produced a tie vote, and under the Constitution the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, which went for more than 30 ballots—37 ballots—before one representative switched his vote from Aaron Burr to Thomas Jefferson. Founding Healer (2019)
Unger placed that contest within a broader divide between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists or Democrat-Republicans, as the Jeffersonians called themselves. He described the Federalists as very strict constitutionalists who believed in a very strong central government governed by the power of Congress, and the Jeffersonians as wanting more states’ rights and leaning toward the ideas of Patrick Henry of Virginia. Adams, Unger said, felt the Jeffersonians had stolen the election from him, went home to Massachusetts and stayed there, growing more bitter. Founding Healer (2019)
The reconciliation that followed came through Rush, who had become friends with Jefferson. Unger said Jefferson did not believe in doctors, fell ill, and finally wrote Rush a letter asking for help, saying he probably would not do what he was told but would listen. Rush gave him directions for caring for himself—stay in bed, take hot drinks, and the other things done for colds or the flu. Rush then concluded that the debate between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists was so important to the formation of the country, and was still going on in the 21st century, that it would be important for Adams and Jefferson to record their thoughts, and that the best way was for them to resume correspondence. They had been close earlier in life, when Adams was ambassador to France and Jefferson came over and became part of the Adams family. Through calming, soothing, coaxing letters, Rush talked them into at least wishing each other a Merry Christmas, and the correspondence developed from those small steps. Founding Healer (2019)
Bob Zadek closed that segment by noting that the collection of letters between Jefferson and Adams is a wonderful read, about 154 letters, and that this first-person history would not exist without Rush using his psychiatric knowledge to manipulate Jefferson and Adams into writing again. Founding Healer (2019)
The Chase impeachment
Burr’s third appearance comes in a 2020 episode on impeachment with John Rothmann. Discussing whether the founders intended impeachment to be rare, Rothmann said there had been 15 impeachments in the Senate, primarily of judges rather than presidents, and that impeachment was a process by which the view was that you could correct the imperfections. He described it as used rarely and only when there was really no alternative, and noted that Judge Hastings, who was impeached and removed from office, is now a sitting member of Congress. Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020)
Rothmann then recalled Samuel Chase, Justice of the Supreme Court in 1805, who went through the impeachment process. Aaron Burr presided at his trial. Rothmann said the whole thing was political, that Thomas Jefferson wanted Chase removed from office, and that was the whole issue—and that Chase was not removed. Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020)
Bob Zadek, in the same exchange, had raised the case of the first judge to be impeached, saying he was impeached because he was abusive to litigants and a drunkard and just a loser, that he did nothing wrong, and that they simply said he was a terrible judge and kicked him out, which Zadek called perfectly appropriate in 1803 or 1804. Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020)
Across episodes
The three episodes do not argue a common question about Burr. The 2013 episode uses him as a historical aside in a discussion of sexual scandal and voting; the 2019 episode places him in the mechanics of the 1800 election and the Adams–Jefferson reconciliation; the 2020 episode places him at the Chase impeachment trial in a discussion of how rare impeachment should be. The excerpts show no development in the treatment of Burr across these appearances, and no episode takes him as its subject.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts say nothing about Burr’s early life, education, military service, tenure in the Senate, or his later trial and travels. They do not state the outcome of the duel beyond Hamilton’s death, nor the office Burr held when he presided at the Chase trial, nor the terms of the constitutional provision that threw the 1800 election into the House. No excerpt describes Burr’s own political views or his relationship to the Federalist and Jeffersonian factions beyond the single ballot count in the House.