Book Review, Donald Barr Chidsey, The Great Conspiracy.

Donald Chidsey’s historical novel about the notorious Aaron Burr is a well written synopsis of the events that surrounded Burr after his famous duel and up to his treason trial and concludes with his last few years spent in Europe and New York. There was quite a bit of mystery about the man and rumors spread like wildfire. Many historians have tried to discover the true identity of this fascinating man but have been largely influenced by the rumors his enemies spread. Not Chidsey, he explores the nature and motives of the quiet, well-mannered, man of honor, with a significantly different view of him. The author comes off as almost defending the suspected traitor and cites many other publications and references to support his facts. One can get a sense of the mystery surrounding the great conspiracy by reading what other respected historians have to say about Aaron Burr. In discussing the events of the duel, The American Pageant, (Kennedy, Cohen, Baily,) says this “Hamilton deplored the practice of dueling, by that date illegal in several states, but felt his honor was at stake. He met Burr’s challenge at the appointed hour but refused to fire. Burr killed Hamilton with one shot.” This is a much different story than the one told by Chidsey, but no one is certain as to what actually happened. The main argument presented by Donald Chidsey’s novel is that Aaron Burr didn’t present any threat to the United States government or the Mexican government he was just looking for adventure.
The starts out with an introduction to the Louisiana Purchase and describes the debate about the land west of the Appalachians. This is an important part of the book because it’s this debate and subsequent decisions that had a lot to do with the shaping of that part of the nation. The Louisiana Purchase being such an enormous amount of land that the government had virtually no control over. It opened the door to opportunity and to all those enterprising minded people, like Aaron Burr.
The story then puts the reader on the shores of the north river in New Jersey, following Burr as he awaits Hamilton. The two highest paid lawyers in New York were there because of a dispute about slanderous words being printed in a paper. Chidsey writes this part very carefully and thoughtfully. When it came to the actual duel, he paints the picture of two willing gentlemen calmly taking their pistols and following all the preset rules. Hamilton won the right to say “present” at which time both men would fire. Both men fired, but Hamilton’s shot went high about six feet and to the right about four feet. Chidsey makes a note as to this passage and writes later that “no sides would taken here in the dispute that raged for years, and may still be raging in remote corners of libraries, as to whether Hamilton or Burr shot first” (Chidsey 146).
After this duel Burr became quite notorious and a warrant was issued for his arrest in the state of New York and later New Jersey. This being the case Burr thought it necessary to take a vacation. He ordered a floating home to be sailed down the Ohio. He more or less drifted down the river at around seven knots, stopping where he liked. It was on this first adventure to the west that the theories start to arise about his doings. It was also on this first adventure he meets several people and uses his famous charm and wit and befriends them all. Most notably he meets Mrs. Blennerhassett on the island of the same name, and stays there several days. He then sails down to Louisville and meets Andrew Jackson. Then it was on to Fort Massac to meet an old acquaintance, General James Wilkinson. The general was a queer man who was always dressed in a pompous uniform, and a man fond of food and drink. After four days of secret discussions Burr departed for the town which would become his favorite, New Orleans.
After being greeted like a hero in the sultry and flamboyant city he was informed that the country of Mexico was ready for a revolution and all it needed was a leader and money. Burr was never to good with money, he was good at extracting it but it slipped out of his hands as easy as water. Thus began Burr’s great quest to raise as much money as possible, buy months worth of supplies and recruit men willing to make a new life for themselves in a great adventure.
The great conspiracy arises when Burr starts to do some strange things. He begins to meet with the rich, and famous heroes of the past and he starts having friends recruit for him. The strangest of all his doings was with the General, the Washington of the West, James Wilkinson. He and Burr had been corresponding for many years using a cipher and early in August Wilkinson simply wrote I am ready.
Burr went back to Blennerhassett island and some of the recruits started to follow suit. He had to leave though and traveled many places just in time actually. Rumors started to surface saying that he had thousand of troops ready to start a war that would separate east from west. The county militia raided the island expecting to find hard fighting rugged mercenaries, but only found a handful of young men of good family who were just looking for adventure.
Burr was almost arrested for trying to separate the Union and start a war with Mexico, but his lawyer, Henry Clay, helped him beat the rap. Around this same time General Wilkinson decided to turn on his old friend. Wilkinson was recently appointed to the governorship of Louisiana and was not well liked in the Senate. The reason he turned on him is simple. Wilkinson was going to be superseded as the commanding officer of the entire army and he needed a reason for the senate to keep him in his position. After receiving a letter from Burr he waited two weeks before sending word to the president that there was trouble in New Orleans and that their might be a revolt. He then asked for martial law to be enacted and for a pay raise.
After Wilkinson had spread so much panic throughout the country, President Jefferson issued a proclamation saying what the general had been shouting. Burr was completely unaware of these goings on and continued with the plan to bring his 60-100 men from Cumberland island to meet up with the men from Blennerhassett island and continue on to New Orleans. On January 10 1807, Burr met up with his friend judge Peter Bruin who showed him the presidents proclamation and the warrant for his arrest. The game was up.
Burr was arrested and tried for treason at the supreme court in Richmond Va. The chief justice that was to preside over the trial was chief justice John Marshall. The prosecution had an all-star team of orators to convict him but Burr also had his own team of supporters which included John Wickham, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Botts, and Charles Lee.
The trial itself came to be the foundation for the definition of treason. For over a hundred years it would serve as the example. For the most part that is what the trial consisted of, attorneys debating whether or not what he did, if anything , could be construed as treason. These debates lasted hours and were supplemented by an occasional witness with a shaky story. After several weeks the defense asked for a motion, if the only real evidence the prosecution had of treason were the copies of letters that had been tampered/supplied by Wilkinson, and testimonies of witnesses who thought they saw suspicious activity, then all of that was collateral and there was no case.
After nine more days of the Great Debate, Justice Marshal read his decision, the longest in American history. Marshall asked the prosecution if they had anything else, and having none, the case went to the jury. They returned twenty minutes later with a verdict of not guilty.
After the trial Burr was still not very well liked in the country and traveled to Europe under a false name. he tried to seduce people over there to pour their money into his schemes just like before but was met with less than success. He returned to the states in May 1812. He tried to get in contact with his beloved daughter Theodosia, and his grandson Aaron Burr Alston. This was probably the one reason he came back to the states . Unfortunately Theodosia and young Aaron died when the ship they were traveling on sunk into the icy Atlantic.
In the 1830’s he was able to keep a good living by being a lawyer and was a regular sight taking long walks. When news of the revolt in Texas reached him he was delighted, “There, you see? I was right!” he cried. “I was only thirty years too soon! What was treason thirty years ago is patriotism now!”
The adventurous Aaron Burr was thrust into an adventure that was of his own making that helped define the American way of doing things. The idea of manifest destiny demanded that the west be settled is observable in Burr’s moves and the dirty politics of some people in high positions didn’t go away with Wilkinson. Donald Chidsey tried to show Aaron Burr in a new light so that he may be better understood by later generations. Chidsey did a very good job at humanizing this mysterious character. After reading so many authors who paint him as a horrible traitor, it’s refreshing to read a different opinion. Upon finishing the novel one comes away with a great respect and almost pity for the man.
One example of the author trying to show the reader that Burr was in reality a harmless dreamer can be found on page 31, “…he was looking for a future, and being the sort of man he was, he would hardly be satisfied with something small, something dim.”
Donald Chidsey was very bias when he wrote this story, he had to be for it to support his thesis. He was sympathetic towards Burr and always described him as a charming, witty, and likable. Many pages can attest for this statement, one such page is 138, “He was a kindly man, if devious, and he cold not bear to hear a child cry.”
The author’s diction is plain English with relatively easy comprehensibility. He varied his sentence lengths and keeps the writing exciting. He alternates between long sentences with several commas and short sentences that make a dramatic statement. This can be seen on page 118, “The general showed the jury what he said was the self-same letter that Samuel Swartwout had delivered to him in the camp at Natchitoches, but he was obliged to confess that he had tampered with it, scratching out a word here and there and substituting other words, erasing the entire first sentence.”
“These jurors would have indicted the General as well as Aaron Burr.”
The author included an extensive bibliography in the back of the book. The sources he used were varied from memoirs of John Adams an Thomas Jefferson, to biographies that have Wilkinson and corruption in the title. Some examples are as follows: Jefferson, Thomas. The writings of Thomas Jefferson, collected and edited by Paul Leicester Ford. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897.
Shereve, Royal Ornan. The Finished Scoundrel: General James Wilkinson. Indianapolis: The Bobs-Merrill Company, 1933
Donald Chidsey has given a great contribution to the study of Aaron Burr. By writing an easy to understand and engaging historical novel he was able to bring to life the mysteries surrounding this perplexing man. He wrote this book for any person who wants to learn the history of the killer of Hamilton. The purpose of the book was to show a new view of a notorious killer that had so many rumors around him. Aaron Burr was just an enterprising man with a grand imagination, he was able to charm many people and acquired many friends. His unfortunate flaw was that he had terrible luck with money. Any money that went into his pocket was sure to find a hole. After all the nasty rumors that followed him wherever he went, he ended up being a kind old man with a smile always on his face. The quiet and reserved Aaron Burr, who liked be mysterious, was dogged by tragedy and had all his schemes fail. He lost the presidency by only one vote, he lost his prestige with one shot, he lost his only daughter and grandson to a shipwreck, and lost any hope of crowning himself emperor of Mexico and splitting the Union in two. As Donald Chidsey put it, “But Aaron Burr never seemed to mind. He kept smiling. He had a wonderful time.”