Aaron Burr was born in 1756, grandson of theologian Jonathan Edwards and son of the president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton. By age two he had lost his father, grandfather, mother and grandmother. He entered Princeton at 13 and graduated at 16, then joined the Continental Army, marching to Quebec, where he tried to carry General Montgomery’s body from the snow, and clashing with George Washington. He married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, gave their daughter Theodosia a full classical education, and built a New York law practice, joining Alexander Hamilton to win the Levi Weeks murder trial after a five minute jury deliberation.

Burr turned Tammany Hall into a political machine and used a water company charter to open the Bank of the Manhattan Company. In 1800 he tied Thomas Jefferson at 73 electoral votes, leading to the 12th Amendment. After losing the 1804 New York governor’s race, he killed Hamilton in a duel at Weehawken on July 11, 1804. His western scheme was exposed by General James Wilkinson, and Chief Justice John Marshall’s narrow definition of treason led to his acquittal. He lived in exile in Europe, then in obscurity in New York, and died at 80 on the day his divorce, handled by Alexander Hamilton Jr., became final.

• At Valley Forge he unloaded the muskets of suspected mutineers, then cut off the arm of a man whose gun clicked at him.
• In 1785 he introduced a bill to abolish slavery in New York while still owning enslaved people.
• Before facing Hamilton, he fought a bloodless duel with Hamilton’s brother in law John Barker Church.
• In Sweden he tried 50 times to light a candle with pistol gunpowder and set his shirt, fingers and papers on fire.
• DNA testing in 2018 confirmed his children with Mary Emmons, including abolitionist John Pierre Burr.