10 Legacy

CHAPTER 10 Legacy The entire Hamilton family was heartbroken after Philip's death. For months Alexander couldn't think about anything else. But slowly he went back to work as a lawyer. Aaron Burr was still vice president. He did not think he would be reelected, so instead he ran for governor of New York in 1804. Of course, Alexander still considered Burr to be a dishonest man. He supported Burr's opponent in the election, Morgan Lewis. When Aaron Burr lost the race for governor, he put some of the blame on Alexander. In March 1804, Alexander went to dinner at the house of a friend, John Tayler. Over dinner, the men talked about many things, including Aaron Burr. Afterward, another of the dinner guests—Dr. Charles Cooper—wrote a letter to

his brother telling him all about his dinner with the great Alexander Hamilton. In the letter, he mentioned that Alexander had called Aaron Burr untrustworthy. Somehow this letter got into the hands of a newspaper publisher who immediately printed it in his paper for the whole city to read. Many people said they didn't believe Alexander would say such a thing. But Dr. Cooper said it was all true. In fact, he said that he knew an even more "despicable" thing that Alexander had said. He was hinting that Alexander had said even worse things about Aaron Burr that night!

Aaron Burr demanded an apology. Alexander refused. Their two friends, Nathaniel Pendleton and William P. Van Ness, tried to work out a peace between the two men, but they couldn't. Alexander and Burr decided to fight a duel. Alexander did not tell his family about the duel. He quietly finished up all the law cases he was working on so that his business would be settled and his clients would not need him for anything. He told a few close friends that he

planned to not shoot at Aaron Burr. Since his son Philip's death, he just couldn't bring himself to shoot at another man. He wrote goodbye letters to his family in case he didn't survive the duel. On July 11, 1804, Alexander and his second, Nathaniel Pendleton, rowed across the river to Weehawken, New Jersey. This was the same spot where Philip had been killed three years earlier. The duel was set for seven o'clock in the morning. The only other person there beside the two men and their seconds was Dr. David Hosack. Alexander chose to stand on the north

side of the clearing, facing the sun. Each man had a flintlock pistol—the same type Philip used in his duel—that had been borrowed from Alexander's brother-in-law John Church.

The two men raised their guns and fired. Alexander's shot, as he planned, landed nowhere near Aaron Burr. It hit a tree. Burr shot Alexander above the hip. He fell to the ground. Nathaniel Pendleton and Dr. Hosack carried Alexander to the boat and rushed him back across the river to the city. William P. Van Ness hurried Aaron Burr away from the scene so that he wouldn't be arrested.