otwithstanding Hamilton's greatness, he was always in trouble with men
and women. He never ceased his abuse of Burr, whose election as senator
angered him. Later, when Burr was the choice of congress as minister to
Paris, backed especially by Madison and Monroe, Hamilton succeeded in
compassing his defeat. Again, when Adams had decided upon some important
appointment for Burr, Hamilton succeeded in defeating him. This made
Burr's promotion to the vice-presidency and his own downfall the more
exasperating to Hamilton.

Four years passed. Burr won high honor as president of the senate,
and the party nominated him for governor of New York with practical
unanimity. This was too much for Hamilton, who had nothing to lose by
indulging his enmity to the full. The campaign against Burr was one of
the basest on record. It was one of vilification. Being vice-president,
he was at a disadvantage when it came to conducting the campaign, and he
was defeated.

There were many features of this campaign that were peculiarly annoying
to Burr, and for the second time in his life he resorted to the duel,
and Hamilton was killed. Had Burr died in that hour, history would have
a different place for him as well as for Hamilton, but in his death
Hamilton was glorified. The most preposterous stories, such as his
firing into the air, were invented and believed. The time and the
conditions were as bad as they could be for Burr. The North never
condoned a duel that ended fatally, and then less than ever. I have no
word of apology to offer for the duel. It was weakness, as it always is,
and from it came all the ills that befell Aaron Burr.

Censure him all you choose, and then look at the conditions of his
childhood and wonder that he lived to fifty years of age before the lack
of early care brought forth its fruit. Aaron Burr received as good an
intellectual and moral legacy as any one of the 1,400 of the Edwards
family. His father and mother, grandfather and grandmother would have
given him as good an environment and training as any one of them
enjoyed, but--his father died before he was two years old, and his
mother, grandfather, and grandmother died when he was two years old, and
he and his sister, four years old, went to live with his oldest uncle,
Timothy Edwards, who was only twenty. This uncle was also bringing up
two younger brothers aged eight and thirteen, and three young sisters.
While Timothy Edwards made an eminently worthy citizen