A Day of the Duel That Changed America: Hamilton vs. Burr, 1804

By the summer of 1804, Alexander Hamilton was a man out of power. Born poor in the Caribbean, orphaned, he had clawed his way up to become George Washington’s aide, a Revolutionary War hero at Yorktown, the author of most of the Federalist Papers, and the first Secretary of the Treasury — the man who built America’s banking system, its credit, its Coast Guard, and its Mint. But his Federalist Party was collapsing. Thomas Jefferson had beaten John Adams in 1800, and Hamilton’s own pamphlet attacking Adams had helped wreck his party. Worse, Hamilton had spent fifteen years publicly and privately calling Vice President Aaron Burr a dangerous, unprincipled man — first by throwing his influence behind Jefferson to break the deadlocked 1800 election, then by helping sink Burr’s 1804 run for governor of New York...

A Day of the Duel That Changed America: Hamilton vs. Burr, 1804

Time Surfing: Graphic History.