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War of 1812. The Duel | The Burr Conspiracy. The Burr Conspiracy The soldiers from Ft. Stoddert, Louisiana Territory, captured the fugitive Aaron Burr on a February morning in 1807, on a muddy road near the hamlet of Wakefield. Burr's fall from grace seemed total. The former vice president, who had dressed as magnificently as any head of state, wore a battered beaver hat and ragged wool coat. The dandy who had charmed women by the score sported a scruffy crop of whiskers. Aaron Burr had traveled West just six months before to carve out his own empire.
Nearly 200 years later, the exact details of what became known as the Burr Conspiracy -- Aaron Burr's attempt to detach the Western states and the Louisiana Territory from the Union -- remain unknown. Burr cast his eyes on the newly acquired Territory of Louisiana. Burr would need manpower to accomplish his objectives. Despite his faults, Wilkinson represented a logical choice for Burr.
Still, problems remained. Meanwhile, the border conflict with Spain had begun to heat up. The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr. Never has an American trial produced such an impressive set of key players: the defendant-- Aaron Burr, founding father, Vice President, and slayer of Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel three years earlier; the trial judge--John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (and the most important justice in history); the force behind the prosecution--Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and president of the United States; defense attorneys--Edmund Randolph and Luther Martin, both delegates to the Constitutional Convention and among the most prominent men of the day; prosecutors-- Charles Lee, former Attorney General, and William Wirt, future presidential candidate.
The high-stakes treason trial of Aaron Burr came at an unstable time, both in Europe and in America. The United States seemed on the verge of a war with Spain, even as the Administration struggled to preserve neutrality. The Burr Conspiracy The Conspiracy Defeated The Trial.