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Summary Of The Treason Trials Of Aaron Burr By Peter Charles Hoffer

1332 Words6 Pages

The book, much as the title suggests, is about what happened when Aaron Burr was put on trial after he was publicly accused of treason by Thomas Jefferson without proper cause. The Treason Trials of Aaron Burr, written by Peter Charles Hoffer, does not actually use Aaron Burr as the central character, but rather John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but in this case the presiding judge of the federal circuit. It discusses whether or not the trial was, in fact, a political trial as it could have been seen as one, but the right motivations might not have been there. The book also discusses what exactly treason is, and the political and constitutional issues caused by the trials.
There was much debate as to whether or not the …show more content…

Over the years, Jefferson had slowly grown to dislike Burr and he saw this trial as a way to deal with that. Even with the Constitution strict definition of slavery, Jefferson that Burr’s “guilt was beyond question, despite the fact that he had not committed any “Overt Acts” of treason. No matter which of the reasons historians have assumed for why men and boats had met on Blennerhassett Island, Burr did not “levy war” against the United States either. These acts show how Jefferson had let his distaste for Burr poison the way he perceived him.
Hoffer’s presentations of the characters are not as perfect. His portrayal of Burr is one of very high moral standards and that of a perfect gentleman leading reader’s to believe that Hoffer is quite biased on his opinion of Burr’s character. He seems to think that Burr was not capable of any type of treason, even though we still do not know what Burr’s dealings were on Blennerhassett Island to this day. He, however, is not the first to take such a stand as the same view can be seen in some of the more sympathetic biographies of …show more content…

However, for someone looking for the answers to what Burr’s true dealings were on Blennerhassett Island on December 9, 1806 they would have to look elsewhere as this was not the nature of Hoffer’s book as I found reading through it. In spite of this small factor, the book was far from being irrelevant as it explored many areas of the case that I had never seen

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