[CTRL] Fwd: Burr, Hamilton duel to be reenacted

Sat, 10 Jul 2004 07:37:12 -0700

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Famous Burr, Hamilton duel to be reenacted

Thursday, July 8, 2004 Posted: 4:17 PM EDT (2017 GMT)

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Aaron Burr was vice president when he shot Alexander Hamilton in 1804.
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WEEHAWKEN, New Jersey (Reuters) -- Two hundred years after Vice President Aaron Burr shot dead one of America's founding fathers in a duel, Burr's family is reenacting the scandalous incident to try to rehabilitate his image.

On Sunday, Burr's descendants plan a televised recreation of the duel in which Burr shot Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary and a signatory to the Constitution whose face now adorns the $10 bill.

About a hundred descendants from both sides of the centuries-old dispute are expected at the event at Weehawken, New Jersey, on the cliffs of the Hudson River across from New York City.

Antonio Burr, a distant cousin of the historical figure, said the intention was to draw publicity to the family's belief that "the way Aaron Burr has been vilified obscures the contributions he made to the founding of the United States."

Burr, a psychologist who will play his ancestor in the mock duel, said, "Burr was one of the losers in history. I am devoted to setting the record straight." Despite many achievements, Burr never recovered from the stain on his reputation.

The role of Hamilton, who was an aide to Gen. George Washington in the American Revolution, will be played by his great-grandson Douglas Hamilton, a computer salesman from Columbus, Ohio.

"Hamilton had it right and history has proved it," said Hamilton, who said he was happy to volunteer to play his illustrious forbearer.

Historians have long puzzled over the duel in July 11, 1804 which capped years of political rivalry between the two men. It took place after Burr took offense at remarks Hamilton made during a bitter race for New York governor.

Hit a tree

Joanne Freeman, a professor at Yale University, said participants in duels often purposely missed, so that both could save their honor and neither be hurt.

But in their showdown Burr fired a shot that mortally wounded Hamilton, whose gun discharged into a tree branch overhead.

"What prevented Hamilton from ending the affair with an apology or an explanation? Why did Burr instigate such a duel on such dubious grounds?" Freeman wrote in "Dueling as Politics: Reinterpreting the Burr-Hamilton Duel."

"Scholars have attributed these self-destructive decisions to emotional excess, suggesting that Hamilton was suicidal and Burr malicious and murderous," she wrote.

Hamilton's death caused national outrage and he became a hero.

Burr was indicted for murder, but the charge was reduced to accessory to dueling and he escaped punishment. He completed his term as the nation's third vice president in 1805.

Despite his accomplishments -- he was an officer in the Revolution, he championed equal education for women, he founded an investment company that became Chase Manhattan Bank -- Burr spent the rest of his life viewed with suspicion and animosity.

Years later he was accused separately of treason, acquitted and left the country.

Hamilton meanwhile faces a new rival. Since the death of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, supporters have proposed putting Reagan's face, instead of Hamilton's, on the U.S. $10 bill.


Copyright 2004 Reuters.

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