Burr, Hamilton and Jefferson

A Study in Character

by Roger G. Kennedy

Oxford University Press, 476 pp., $30

Roger G. Kennedy sets out to “restore Aaron Burr to his place among the pantheon of the Founders,” and apparently borrows Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary” as his method. Kennedy attacks the poor historiography surrounding Burr and the political smear campaign mounted against him by Thomas Jefferson with poor historiography and political smear tactics of his own, justifying it under the dubious banner of “considering character.” After thoroughly dismissing Hamilton as guilty of all the deadly sins save perhaps gluttony, using the rigorous scientific technique of pseudo-Freudian analysis of selected letters, Kennedy exonerates Burr from Jefferson’s charges of treason by pointing out that Burr disliked Benedict Arnold. Burr is hardly the villainous cad Jefferson made him out to be, but clearing his name by a similar method is an intellectually dishonest exercise.

This article appears in January 28 • 2000.

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