On this day, Sept. 1, in 1807, Aaron Burr was acquitted of committing treason against the United States.
Burr was accused of plotting to take over parts of Louisiana and Mexico. Prosecutor George Hay argued that Burr wanted to conquer New Orleans and establish it as the center of his own empire.
A jury found Burr not guilty because he had not engaged in an “overt act” of treason.
But the public still regarded him as a traitor, and Burr went to Europe for several years. He never returned to American public life.
Burr had previously been charged with murder in New York and New Jersey for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, but was never tried in either state.
– Emily Babay
