The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr
Law, Politics, and the Character Wars of the New Nation

The Burr trial pitted Marshall, Jefferson and Burr in a dramatic three-way contest that left a permanent mark on the new nation.

R. Kent Newmyer (Author)

9781107606616, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 September 2012

242 pages, 12 b/w illus. 1 map
22.6 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.33 kg

'… a skilled and detailed recounting of Burr's trial, [this book] reveals a host of legal and political implications bound up in the trial and its outcome, and it is an entertainingly good read as well.' Joanne B. Freeman, Law and History Review

The Burr treason trial, one of the greatest criminal trials in American history, was significant for several reasons. The legal proceedings lasted seven months and featured some of the nation's best lawyers. It also pitted President Thomas Jefferson (who declared Burr guilty without the benefit of a trial and who masterminded the prosecution), Chief Justice John Marshall (who sat as a trial judge in the federal circuit court in Richmond) and former Vice President Aaron Burr (who was accused of planning to separate the western states from the Union) against each other. At issue, in addition to the life of Aaron Burr, were the rights of criminal defendants, the constitutional definition of treason and the meaning of separation of powers in the Constitution. Capturing the sheer drama of the long trial, Kent Newmyer's book sheds new light on the chaotic process by which lawyers, judges and politicians fashioned law for the new nation.

1. Jefferson and Burr on the road to Richmond
2. Jefferson and Marshall square off
3. Legal theater in Richmond: Aaron Burr front and center
4. Treason law for America: the lawyers grapple
5. Judging the judge.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], History of the Americas [HBJK], History [HB]