Essay Database

Aaron Burr Burr, Aaron (1756-1836), third vice president of the United States (1801-5). Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, on February 6, 1756, and educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), of which his father had been president. He joined the Continental Army in 1775 and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Retiring in 1779 because of ill health, he was admitted to the bar in New York City in 1782 and achieved a reputation …

…He spent some years there, often in great financial distress, and returned to New York City in 1812 to practice law. His daughter Theodosia, who had remained loyal to her father throughout his career, was lost at sea while on her way to meet him. In 1833 he married a wealthy widow, Eliza Brown Jumel; within a year she divorced him because of his financial demands. Burr died on September 14, 1836, in Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York.