Aaron Burr: A Biography by Nathan SchachnerReview by: W. F. McCalebThe American Historical Review, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Jul., 1938), pp. 901-902Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1842590 .

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Schachner: Aaron Burr 901

states were represented-something which had not before occurred in twelve long years of struggle and strife since I776. Indeed the summer months of I788 present the curious spectacle of two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, which had refused to accept the Constitution and would therefore be quite outside the new circle of brotherhood, taking an active part nevertheless in the preliminaries of setting up the new govern- ment. One of them indeed had had no hand in the making of the Con- stitution, had even snubbed the Federal Convention with a "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity!" Yet, notwithstanding these things, Rhode Island was as eager as any to attend the going-out party of the Old Con- gress. The case of North Carolina was different, for in that state the door of faith had never been closed.

It is not of course to be inferred that in all these months Congress was entirely neglectful of the tasks whereunto it had been called. As Dr. Hill points out in his prefatory note, Congress actually considered a great amount of business of one sort or another, for urgent national problems continued to press upon the minds and consciences of its members. Let it at least be placed to the credit of Congress that, even as it drew what it well knew to be its last breaths, it persisted in striving to better its executive arrange- ments.

And then, amongst all the other motives that prevailed with Congress to continue to move and have its being, there was one which, in the minds of

a good many statesmen, and notably that of the secretary, Charles Thomson, was especially potent. It was that Congress should not let the flag fall until victory should be complete. It happened that after October io, I788, it was never again possible to assemble a quorum of Congress; nevertheless Secre- tary Thomson kept the Journal open, and if a single delegate thrust his face inside the secretarial office, he was duly recorded as having attended. Thus was the life-thread of the Old Congress spun along until the second of March, I789. There remained yet one day before the birth of the new

government was at hand, but to the mind of the great-spirited secretary the soul of Union passed over the narrow chasm.

Carnegie Institution of Washington. EDMUND C. BURNETT.

Aaron Burr: A Biography. By NATHAN SCHACHNER. (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. I937. Pp. xii, 563. $3.50.)

MR. Schachner's biography of Aaron Burr is a praiseworthy addition to

the literature of American history. An amazing mass of new evidence has been marshaled. The result is that old conclusions have been buttressed. In a word, the story of Burr's life is nearing completion.

How slowly does truth emerge into the light! How discouraging it is to conscientious historians to find that old lies continue to be paraded long

after overwhelming evidence has been adduced to bury them under. It has

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902 Reviews of Books

been difficult for the facts about Burr to become known because of the malevolence of critics who everywhere have striven to hide the story beneath a heap of partisanship and vituperation. The followers of a certain school of history, boasting Henry Adams as the Knight in Shining Armor, will not yield, although hopelessly beaten. To them, Burr is still the low politician scheming to rob Jefferson of the presidency, still the murderer of Hamilton, still the sinister conspirator, with treason all about him, if not in his heart.

What disturbs one most is that the very critics who continue to besmirch the character of Burr employ only the tattered tales of the past-long since discredited. Why don't some of these wise critics, professed historians, do something on their own accounts? Why not unearth evidence in support of their positions? It is time they ceased calling such serious studies as Schachner's "apologies". It is not an apology. It is a sober study and impregnably fortified by unquestioned data. When an embryonic historian declares that Schachner resorts to "billingsgate" in his denunciation of Jefferson's persecution of Burr at the trial at Richmond, one's patience is exhausted. The records show conclusively that Jefferson did persecute Burr at Richmond with a vindictiveness unparalleled in American political annals. Did not the President write to Prosecutor Hay telling him to free the whole pack of conspirators so long as Burr was not permitted to escape? Did he not bribe Eaton by paying an old claim of his? Did he not offer pardons wholesale in an effort to secure testimony which would lead to Burr's con- viction?

The three most controverted points in Burr's life are: (i) the conflict with Jefferson over the presidential election of i8oo; (2) the duel with Hamilton; (3) the conspiracy. Mr. Schachner has unearthed additional materials which tend to confirm the thesis that, had Burr been so minded, the presidency might have been had for the taking. He also furnishes addi- tional evidence to show that the meeting with Hamilton at Weehawken was the result of a long series of insults and libelous attacks on the part of Hamilton and that that meeting, called a "duel", was strictly in accord with the accepted canons of the day. But to the old school it is still styled a murder! (If murder was in anybody's mind, it was in Hamilton's, for did he not fire before the signal?) As for the conspiracy, a splendid analysis of the case is given by Schachner. He follows it through all its phases to its culmination at the trial in Richmond. To all intents and purposes the chapter is closed. It is scarcely to be believed that any new evidence can change the verdict.

Mr. Schachner's work cannot fail to be accepted, in time, as a funda- mental chronicle of early nineteenth century American history. Any illu- mination of that most tangled period should be welcomed.

Washington, D. C. W. F. MCCALEB.

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