Mar 02, 2023 - Sale 2628

Sale 2628 - Lot 4

Price Realized: $ 12,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
"HAVE NO APPREHENSIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF GENERAL HAMILTON...IN OUR...ELECTION" BURR, AARON. Autograph Letter Signed, "A. Burr," as Vice President, to Caesar Augustus Rodney, reassuring him that Alexander Hamilton could not influence the upcoming election without committing fraud, expressing pain at hearing the news of an unspecified appointment, expressing concern that Fabius might be given candidacy [for governor of PA or DE?; "Fabius" was the alias John Dickinson used when authoring open letters], and promising to visit if he passes through Washington. 1 page, 4to, with integral address leaf, addressed in holograph and with franking signature; folds. New York, 26 April 1801
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". . . [Y]ou need have no apprehensions of the effects of General Hamilton's exertions in our approaching election. If no fraud shall be practiced, our assembly ticket in this City will be carried by a Majority still greater than that of the last year. We have on the republican side . . . at least a dozen Men superior to Gen'l H. both in public debate & in active powers & exertions in a business of this kind. The only difference is that they do not puff themselves in the newspapers & thus you at a distance do not hear of them--but mark the effect. . . .
"Fabius must not be set up as a Candidate unless there be a certainty of his success. Nor should he consent to the use of his name until there shall appear, in various, if not every, part of the State, a zeal and eagerness for the measure. Though I feel a lively interest in your success, I also feel much for his individual happiness, I may add, and for that of the fair Sarah & Maria. . . ."
In 1798, President Adams appointed Hamilton Commanding General of the U.S. Army, passing up men with deep military experience, such as Benjamin Lincoln, George Clinton, Horatio Gates, Henry Knox and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. If Hamilton's appointment didn't enrage Burr, who also had military ambitions, Burr certainly did not appreciate Hamilton's efforts to discredit him during the presidential election of 1800. According to the election system of the time, the ticket whose candidate received the most electoral votes would become president and the other candidate on the ticket would become vice president. The vote in 1800 resulted in the Republican candidates receiving more votes than the Federalist candidates, but the votes were the same for both candidates on the Federalist ticket, leaving the House of Representatives to break the tie and resolve whether Burr or Thomas Jefferson would become president. Hamilton persuaded some of his fellow Federalists in the House to vote against Burr, denying him the presidency. In 1804, when Burr tried to run for offices as a Federalist, Hamilton launched a campaign similar to the one in 1800 that threatened to ruin Burr's reputation. Later that year, Hamilton died by the shot of Burr's pistol.