Aaron Burr Jr. (1756-1836) was a politician, lawyer, and Founding Father who briefly served as Thomas Jefferson's vice-president. Burr is largely remembered for shooting his political rival Alexander Hamilton (largely thanks to Lin Manuel-Miranda's musical Hamilton).
Life[]
Born in February of 1756, Burr was born in Newark (then a part of the British Property of New Jersey) and was the son of a reverend and educator and the grandson of the (then-)famous theologian Jonathan Edwards. Shortly after Aaron's birth, his father died while serving as the president of Princeton College. Jonathan Edwards replaced Aaron's father as president and father figure to Aaron but died shortly after this (along with Aaron's mother and grandmother) leaving him an orphan at only two years old.
He and his young sister were sent to live with the family of one William Shippen (who would represent Pennsylvania in the future Continental Congress) for around a year before the siblings' maternal uncle adopted them. After moving to Elizabethtown with his uncle, Burr was enrolled in the Elizabethtown Academy. Burr's uncle was physically abusive towards his young nephew leading Burr to frequently try to run away from home.
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Personality and writing style[]
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Notable appearances in fiction[]
- Burr is the ostensible antagonist of Lin Manuel-Miranda's musical play Hamilton as he is a rival to the titular main character and ultimately shoots and kills him.
- Burr is the titular character in Gore Vidal's novel of the same name.
- Burr is briefly mentioned in Simon Bucher-Jones' Faction Paradox short story The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A - briefly becoming President after Thomas Jefferson is possessed by a Loa.
- Burr is a somewhat major character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel The Minister's Wooing.
- Edward Everett Hale's short story The Man Without a Country is centered around Burr's failed invasion of Mexico
- Jayge Carr's alternate history short story The War of '07 is about Burr becoming president and establishing a dictatorship within America.
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Sources[]
- Wikipedia