ther we deserve the boon." While Burr and a handful of followers were on their way to New Orleans, however, Wilkinson informed Jefferson of the conspiracy. On Nov. 27, 1806 Jefferson issued a proclamation that led to the collapse of the plot and Burr's arrest. The subsequent trial, held in Richmond, Va., was presided over by Chief Justice John Marshall. He defined the law of treason so narrowly that the jury took a mere 25 minutes to acquit Burr. Marked as a traitor and threatened by angry mobs in Baltimore, Burr gathered some money from friends and left for Europe. He traveled to England, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France, and did not return to the United States until May 1812. Soon thereafter he suffered the deaths of his grandson and his daughter. At the age of 76 he married a wealthy New York widow, Eliza Jumel; but his wife sued for divorce, which was granted on Sept. 14, 1836, the day Burr died. On leaving the government Hamilton resumed a busy and lucrative law practice. He continued to have a strong influence in the public councils, however. He supported a defiant posture toward France during the XYZ AFFAIR (1798), and as inspector general of the army (1798-1800) he took charge of organizing the nation's defenses. Bitterly disappointed in President John ADAMS's erratic leadership, Hamilton openly opposed Adams's reelection in 1800. When it appeared, however, that Aaron Burr might win the presidency over Jefferson, Hamilton unhesitatingly threw his support to Jefferson, whose policies he scorned, rather than to Burr, whom he regarded as a man without principles. This and other opposition by Hamilton so frustrated and angered Burr that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two men fought at Weehawken, N.J., on July 11, 1804. Hamilton apparently fired into the air, but Burr took direct aim. Hamilton fell mortally wounded and died the next day in New York. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City. He left his wife and s...
