ced into a duel. The duel was undeniably Burrs fault. On June 18, 1804 Burr penned an epistle to Hamilton that enclosed a challenge to battle a duel. He included with the dispatch, a replica of the article enclosing the annotations. Burr demanded a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the despicable opinion credited to Hamilton. The code for gentlemen at the time demanded that Hamilton respond to Burr if he wanted people to acknowledge his remarks. If Hamilton wanted to break away from conflict, he would have to openly testify that Burr was a gentleman, and no rogue. In an attempt to escape the duel, Hamilton declared that he had never set eyes on the piece before getting Burrs note. Aggravated, Burr wrote back to Hamilton, condemning him of artificiality and demanding a explicit answer. Hamilton, in another attempt to avoid a duel, Hamilton once again, rebuffed the demand to confer about any comments that may have been written. Quite a few more correspondences passed between the two men. Burr persisted in demanding that Hamilton either recognize or rebuff the remarks. Hamilton, not wanting conflict, gave not answer. At last, on June 27, 1804, Burr insisted that Hamilton handle the penalty of his slur. He officially confronted Hamilton to a duel to resolve their problem. To Burrs contentment, Hamilton received the challenge. Burr went as far as preparing for the duel by practicing his marksmanship every evening after dinner. Hamilton, on the other hand, notified others that he felt no resentment towards Burr, and would therefore refuse to shoot his own firearm. About a week later, Hamilton and Burr met at the shore of the Hudson River to go through with the duel that Burr had demanded for so long. Hamiltons witness saw Burr fire first, and then heard Hamiltons gun go off. As proof to this, later, a tree branch was retrieved which Hamiltons bullet had been lodged into. Hamilton himself told the minister, I have no i...
