ipl-logo

What Were The Differences Between Hamilton And Burr

472 Words2 Pages

Hamilton and Burr met thirty years before the “interview at Weehawken.” Their hostility lasted for fifteen years. This essentially rooted from four major issues – impolitely voicing political opinions, misrepresenting the other and his character, affecting election processes, and pride. These issues evolved into a fatal vendetta on July 27, 1804. The two founding fathers were political opponents before they developed into personal enemies. It all began in 1789. Burr accepted attorney general from Governor George Clinton in New York. This created resentment because Burr had just been campaigning for Hamilton, who lost. Hamilton questioned his shift in allegiance. Burr fell into a pattern of switching sides easily. In 1804, Burr realized the Republicans intended to drop him from the vice presidency. He then saw the chance to go to New York and run for governor. He seized this opportunity, but was running as a Federalist. Unlike George Washington, who did not chose a party to avoid conflict, Burr refused to claim a party so he could run to one that benefitted him the most; Hamilton saw this and let the people know what was going on. He called Burr the anti-Washington. Hamilton also observed Burr conspire about the northern succession and also about detaching the American southwest. In short, Burr made …show more content…

Hamilton took his judgements of Burr’s career and extended them to his character. He believed Burr’s poor political actions stemmed from the fact that he had no morals and ethics. He unprincipled in his personal life and it thus translated into his political life. Hamilton believed Burr to have malicious intentions, and he was very worried about how Burr would affect the nation in its stage of infancy. Hamilton even compared Burr to Catiline, a Roman Senator who attempted to overthrow the Roman Republic. He was libeling Burr, both in political and personal

Open Document