t seven
o'clock on the morning of July 11, 1804, the two men faced each other on
the heights of Weehawken, overlooking New York bay. Both fired at the
word; Burr's bullet passed through Hamilton's body; Hamilton's cut a
twig above Burr's head. Hamilton died next day, and Burr, his political
career at an end, buried himself in the West.

Three years later, he was arrested, charged with treason, for attempting
to found an independent state within the borders of the Union. He had a
wild dream of establishing a great empire to the west of the
Mississippi, and had collected arms and men for the expedition, and was
on his way down the Mississippi when he was arrested and taken back to
Richmond for trial. But his plan could not be proved to be treasonable;
indeed, his arrest was due more to the animosity which Jefferson felt
toward him, than from any other cause, and, brought to trial a year
later, he was acquitted. But his reputation was ruined, there was no
hope for him in public life, and his remaining years were spent quietly
in the practice of his profession, partly abroad and partly in New
York.

It has been too much the habit to picture Burr as a thoroughgoing
scoundrel who murdered an innocent man and conspired against his
country. As a matter of fact, he did neither. Of the charge of treason
he was acquitted, even at a time when public feeling ran high against
him, and in the quarrel with Hamilton, it was Hamilton who was at all
times the aggressor. Both were brilliant, accomplished and courtly
men--even, perhaps, men of genius--but Fate spread a net for their feet,
blindly they stumbled into it, and, too proud to retrace their steps,
pushed on to the tragic end.

The presiding judge at Burr's trial, not the least of whose achievements
was the holding level of the scales of justice on that memorable
occasion, was the last of that great school of statesmen who had fought
for their country's independence, and who had seen the states united
under a common Constitution. John Marshall lived well into the
nineteenth century, and his great work was to interpret that
Constitution to the country, to give it the meaning which it has for us
to-day. Marshall was a Virginian, was just of age at the outbreak of the
Revolution, and served in the American army for five years, enlisting as
a private and rising to the rank of captain. At the close of the war, he
studied law, gained a prominent place in the politics of his state, dre