Burr Hamilton Duel and the History for Dueling in America, Essay Example

The duel between Hamilton and Burr had resulted due to their personal and political battle. The battle started in 1791 when Burr, a republican, acquired the U.S senate seat from Philip Schuyler who was Hamilton’s father in-law. Hamilton, a federalist, was by then a treasury secretary and had supported Schuyler during the elections. Burr’s win made Hamilton to fume. The beef built up most in 1800 when Burr published Hamilton’s document, “The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President of the U.S.” which was to be in private circulation as intended by Hamilton. The federalists rifted apart since the document had criticized the federalist president. In another incidence, the same year, Hamilton lobbied the congress to make the elections favor Thomas Jefferson who had tied with his republican contestant, Aaron Burr, in the balloting for presidency. At the end Jefferson became the winner.

In 1804, Burr ran as an independent and had a belief that he could regain his power in the New York governor’s race. Hamilton was mortified by Burr’s prospects to lead New York. He despised and mistrusted Burr and convinced the New York federalists not to give him any support. Hamilton’s campaign was not the deciding factor of the winning person but instead through Burr’s campaign failure, Morgan Lewis, the republican contestant, emerged the winner. It is this built up conflict that led the two into a duel.

Dueling was unavoidable for men in their public life since they had to defend their honor and this could only be done on the dueling grounds. Dueling was usually preferred as an attempt to defend one’s honor more especially for the politicians who received different and frequent challenges. To some men dueling was unavoidable since it had become a career. An example is Alexander McClung who got a fearful reputation after killing an opponent with a remarkable shot. Avoiding a challenge was also unavoidable because a statement would be published or hang in public accusing a person who has refused to duel of his cowardice.

The purpose of dueling was to make one party honor the other as a result of admitting defeat. It was initially a formal process that was designed to amend grievances and avoid violence although it later deteriorated into a cold blood murder. Through the seconds of each other, they could reconcile and end the duel. The offended party sent a challenge and if the recipient apologized, then they could end up the matter. If apologies were to be given, then the duel could be stopped after the honor had been satisfied.

The Hamilton Burr duel could not be prevented since the differences between the two could not be resolved in a peaceful manner. Politics couldn’t make the two avoid dueling since they wanted to retain their honor and they did not wish to lose their political career. Hamilton spoke against Burr in a dinner party attended by a New York Republican, Dr. Charles D Cooper. Cooper sent a letter to Philip Schuyler which was a “despicable opinion” that Hamilton had expressed against Burr. This made the offended, Burr, to send a challenge to Hamilton for dueling hoping that he could revive his political career if he became victorious.

Their failure to settle the matter amicably failed and thus made the political enemies to meet on dueling grounds at Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11 whereby they fired at each other. Hamilton was mortally wounded and died on the following day. To my opinion, Burr suffered a great defeat since he did not revive his political career as he had expected but rather the duel resulted into its end. He was also charged with two cases of murder which made him not to hold any elective offices. He could be charged with treason if he had again plotted to gain power.

References

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/peopleevents/pande17.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/sfeature/dueling.html