The Duel: Aaron Burr And Alexander Hamilton

It was tougher for Hamilton until he got to go to college after a hurricane hit his hometown. He ¨took a full collection just to send him to the mainland¨(Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015) Unlike Burr, Hamilton was not right away accepted to Princeton. He needed another plan. ¨Ambitious and and totally focused on following the route to success

Paragraph 3: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr are similar people but both live different lives. They both became orphans at a very young age. Alex was born on January 11, 1755 in Nevis. He was always energetic. Early on when Alex was young, James Hamilton Sr. left them.

¨It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.¨ This meant that a minority of courageous men who plead for freedom can change the laws approved by the majority. Born in 1772, the Boston patriot Samuel Adams is the cousin of John Adams, the second president, and is considered an American hero. He was a statesman, a political philosopher, and a founding father of this nation. Samuel Adams was elected as a Massachusetts legislator in 1774, which increased his popularity and helped him spread his view of independence.

Hamilton used his influence to persuade enough representatives to vote for Jefferson to make him the president. Burr was furious and never full forgave Hamilton for what he did. Hamilton and Jefferson didn’t get along very well, so it was surprised some that he chose to support him and not Burr, who he had worked alongside on various occasions. Another reason for Burr’s actions would be when he ran for governor of New York. He ultimately lost to Morgan Lewis, a republican.

In the 1790s, there were two men who had different beliefs regarding how the United States should function. The two men were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was the leader of the Republican party and Hamilton was the leader of the Federalist party. The political parties were created by Hamilton and Jefferson based on their differences in opinion on how the country should run. For example, Jefferson believed that the government should be self-governed and all of the power should go to the individual states.

A person’s true character is exposed in his actions and words in private settings around those he maintains an intimate relationship with. For that reason, the relationships individuals maintain with his or her confidante powerfully reveal who they truly are. In the book The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr, Brands portrays the touching father-daughter relationship Aaron Burr and Theodora Burr maintain. Although Thomas Jefferson argues that Aaron Burr is a horrible villain, Theodosia, Burr’s confidante, disagrees.

This led to many different conflicts especially during his political career. He had many disagreements with other politicians when they thought differently than himself, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Aaron Burr, but one conflict that he had that did not include politics was his affair with Maria Reynolds. This affair was thought to be one of the first major scandals in the country’s history (Biography.com 30). As for the political conflicts, they mostly consisted of letters being published about the other person to humiliate them or to cause them to lose their political influence, but some ended with a duel. In the case of Thomas Jefferson, he and Hamilton had opposing views and both spent a lot of time trying to discredit the other, in the case of John Adams, Hamilton was afraid that he did not share his political views and did not want someone like that as president so he tried to sway the voting so that Adams would be vice president instead (Britannica 15).

After a series of “paper wars” between the political opponents, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, which Hamilton accepted. According to Freeman, Hamilton accepted Burr’s challenge for a number of reasons. “In his mind, the duel; was a praiseworthy attempt to serve the common good... yet it was also an intensely personal attempt to preserve his public career. To prove to the world, and to himself, that he was a man of his word, a man of courage and principle, a leader.”

Was Lodge simply practicing selection in his omission of the events of the Reynolds affair, or was he showing bias by refusing to portray Hamilton in a wholly negative light? I was attempting to answer this by analyzing the distinct perspectives on the Reynolds affair when I realized it is impossible to describe historical events in an unbiased way. Although statistical facts can and should be reported without bias, a description is easy to distort. This is because witnesses of an event see and record based on their personal outlooks – for instance, Hamilton’s recollections of the affair are largely self-serving, and accounts made by other Federalists show the inherent bias people held towards men in the 18th century. Therefore, analysis and descriptions made by future historians will hold at least a small piece of this bias in their own

This is conveyed by Washington’s correspondence with Hamilton. Hamilton began his decline when Washington died. Freed of the tempered restraining influence of Washington, Hamilton’s judgment faltered. At this point, the book became almost unbearably sad. Hamilton engaged in a number of political feuds with Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and others that clouded his perspective.

His goal was to make the ordinary man's voice be heard, and not be overshadowed by the wealthy class. He believed that class and status had no place in determining a person's leadership skills. Jefferson did not want America to become the next Great Britain. Unlike Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson wanted a stronger state government and more emphasis on the Constitution. He felt that agriculture should be the main focus of the nation.

The two parties argued in newspapers against the other’s candidates. They spread bad information about each other, so they could get more votes. In the end, Jefferson became President with 73 electoral votes. His vice president, Aaron burr also received 73 electoral votes. The federalists’ candidate John Adams only got 65 electoral

Because of many of his radical views, he gained a lot of opposition in both the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, and was forced to resign, yet still remained popular, with a greatly valued opinion (Brookhiser). Hamilton then lost his firstborn son (Phillip) in a duel when Phillip challenged George Eacker to uphold his father’s honor. And yet Hamilton refused to remain quiet and openly opposed Aaron Burr in the election of 1800, and worked against Burr again when the Vice President ran for New York governorship. In an attempt to heal his wounded pride, Aaron Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, and the discredited Alexander Hamilton died the day after. (Foner).

Hamilton vs. Jefferson Visions to Reality     Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton both had very defined visions of the scope and power of the new federal government, how they saw the future of the economic development, and what the United States society should become. In my opinion Alexander Hamilton had more of an impact on the United States during the 1820’s and on contemporary government when compared to Thomas Jefferson. His policies did not strictly work during that time and many of his ideas are still seen in today’s society. Jefferson’s views and ideas on/of the national bank, higher tariffs, debt assumption, The Federalist Party, and his support of the ratification of the Constitution are all reasons in why his policies and visions came closer to becoming a reality.     Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, molded the gatherings that provoked to the twofold party system under which the U.S. works today.

There was many differences between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson,they both had different ideas of how to run the country. Hamilton was a Federalist; he wanted the nation government to be strong , while Jefferson was a Democratic- Republic, he wanted the states to hold more power.(Competing Visions of Government: The Federalists vs. the Republicans) They both have different views in political issues and ideals for the country. Alexander Hamilton wanted a strong central government because he experienced the results of a weak central authority.(The Differences Between Hamilton & Jefferson's Views on Political Party Beliefs)On the other hand Thomas Jefferson wanted a weak central government because he thought that the threat of cruel