Thankful for Aaron Burr Saving Democracy!
Thankful Throwback Thursdays
I think I’ll make this post on Vice President Aaron Burr’s unique role in American history, with added notes and footnotes, the Down the Hall Thanksgiving Tradition.
Be Like Arthur (Chester A. that is)
But there are other notes of vice presidential gratitude to share as well. Thanks to the Netflix series Death by Lightning, President Garfield and Vice President (and later President) Chester Alan Arthur have been much discussed (including here!) Arthur, who was a high-level party functionary but not a public figure, was honored by the vice presidency. It was not a position with any power but still, Arthur felt and stated, “The office of vice president is a greater honor than I ever dreamed of attaining.”
When his political mentor, New York Senator Roscoe Conkling told him not to take the offer, Arthur replied, “Such an honor and opportunity comes to very few of the millions of Americans, and to that man but once. No man can refuse it, and I will not.”
In Arthur’s words, I detect gratitude. The vice presidency at that time was an insignificant office, but an honor nonetheless—and Arthur was grateful.
Chester Alan Arthur went on to become president when Garfield was assassinated and surprised everyone by performing capably in the office. He broke with his political backers who thrived on the spoils system and backed civil service reform.
Be like Chester Alan Arthur
As for me, I have much to be grateful for as well. I’m grateful to you for reading!
Personally, I am grateful for the many blessings of my life, which include a wonderful family, health, and prosperity. This was a big year for me. I’m grateful that when my career stalled out I was able to walk away earlier this year, and devote my energies to writing, teaching, and things that interest me. I hope I can share my blessings by helping others.
Finally, I am thankful for living in this remarkable nation which, despite everything, remains a revolutionary development in human history. We all have Aaron Burr to thank for at least a bit of this. I posted this last Thanksgiving, but the original post was back in 2018.
Thankful for Aaron Burr Saving Democracy
I’ve actually been writing about VPs for well over a decade (mostly here—I write on other stuff here.) Given this vast archive, I’m starting a Throwback Thursdays feature, highlighting the best of my past work. For Thanksgiving, there’s no better place to start than a surprising VP that we should all be thankful for. This piece was originally posted on October 5, 2018.
Since everyone is talking about impeaching Supreme Court Justices, let me tell you a story about how Aaron Burr saved America.
In general Burr appears as a blackguard and scoundrel. And some of it is true (he did shoot Hamilton – but maybe it was an accident, who knows.) Burr’s correspondence was lost, so there’s a lot we don’t know about him.
As VP, Burr presided over the Senate, which tries the impeached. In March 1803 the House impeached Judge Pickering, a federal district judge. Pickering was senile and needed to be removed. Burr conducted the Senate’s proceedings admirably. Thomas Jefferson was intrigued by the possibilities. He had routed the Federalists in 1800 so the only real opposition was the Federalist dominated judiciary, and particularly his distant cousin Chief Justice John Marshall.
Jefferson did not care for or trust Burr, but he mentioned the possibility of impeaching Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. There have been a fair number of federal judges impeached, but it was always linked to criminal activity. Removing Chase would have been a purely political move. On March 26, 1804 the House voted to impeach. On July 11, 1804 Burr shot Hamilton. Charged with crimes in New Jersey and New York, Burr fled to DC—where dueling was not illegal—and resumed his duties as Vice President.
In early 1805, the Senate began its trial of Chase. Burr, by all accounts, presided in a fair, even-handed, and decorous manner. Chase was acquitted, by large margins on all charges on March 1, 1805. The failure to impeach Chase played a critical role in establishing an independent judiciary. (Elsewhere I argue that in doing this, Burr was our most significant vice president in terms of the exercise of the formal powers of the vice presidency.)
Did Aaron Burr do this for the good of the nation? Or did he do it to get Jefferson, who had cut him out of the administration and dropped him from the ticket in 1804? Who knows? He did the right thing at a crucial early moment in our nation’s history.