page_title: Aaron Burr
section_title: Law and politics
hierarchical_section_title: Aaron Burr / Life / Law and politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Aaron Burr (1756-1836); Collection of the New Jersey Historical Society
context_page_description: Aaron Burr Jr. was an American politician and lawyer. A Founding Father, he served as the third vice president of the United States during President Thomas Jefferson's first term from 1801 to 1805. His role in helping form the nation, however, would be overshadowed when he killed fellow Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel and when charges of treason were brought against him in 1807.
  Burr was born to a prominent family in New Jersey, he served as a Continental Army officer in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 until his resignation in 1779. Burr then returned to his law career in New York City and became a leading politician who helped form the new Jeffersonian Republican Party. He served in the U.S. Senate and was Jefferson's vice-presidential candidate on the 1800 Jeffersonian Republican ticket. An electoral college tie between Jefferson and Burr resulted in the House of Representatives deciding in Jefferson's favor. Although Burr maintained that he supported Jefferson, the president was highly suspicious of Burr. Vice President Burr was sidelined by Jefferson.
context_section_description: Despite his wartime activities, Burr finished his studies and was admitted to the bar at Albany, New York in 1782, the year of his marriage. He began practicing law in New York City the following year after the British evacuated the city.
  Burr served in the New York State Assembly from 1784 to 1785. In 1784 as an assemblyman, Burr unsuccessfully sought to abolish slavery immediately following the American Revolutionary War.
  Also, he continued his military service as a lieutenant colonel and commander of a regiment in the militia brigade commanded by William Malcolm. He became seriously involved in politics in 1789, when George Clinton appointed him as New York State Attorney General. He was also Commissioner of Revolutionary War Claims in 1791. In 1791, he was elected by the legislature as a Senator from New York, defeating incumbent General Philip Schuyler. He served in the Senate until 1797.
  Burr ran for president in the 1796 election and received 30 electoral votes, coming in fourth behind John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Pinckney. He was shocked by this defeat, but many Democratic-Republican electors voted for Jefferson and no one else, or for Jefferson and a candidate other than Burr. Jefferson and Burr were again candidates for president and vice president during the election of 1800. Jefferson ran with Burr in exchange for Burr working to obtain New York's electoral votes for Jefferson.
  President John Adams appointed Washington as commanding general of U.S. forces in 1798, but he rejected Burr's application for a brigadier general's commission during the Quasi-War with France. Washington wrote, "By all that I have known and heard, Colonel Burr is a brave and able officer, but the question is whether he has not equal talents at intrigue." Burr was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1798 and served there through 1799. During this time, he cooperated with the Holland Land Company in gaining passage of a law to permit aliens to hold and convey lands. National parties became clearly defined during Adams' Presidency, and Burr loosely associated himself with the Democratic-Republicans. However, he had moderate Federalist allies such as Senator Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey.
caption: Burr c. 1793
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