Edmund Randolph – The Intelligent Collector Magazine

U.S. Politics Has Rarely Seen a Character Like Aaron Burr

The signatures of Aaron Burr (above) and Alexander Hamilton sold for $2,500 at an April 2015 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

During the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention, there was a heated debate between delegates from southern and northern states over how to count slaves when determining a state’s population for both legislative representation and taxes. Finally, the “Three-Fifths Compromise” was reached, giving southern states one-third more seats in Congress and one-third more electoral votes than if slaves had been excluded.

In the presidential election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were able to defeat incumbent President John Adams and Charles C. Pinckney due to this single factor. However, under Electoral College rules of the day, it took 36 votes in the House of Representatives to make Jefferson president and Burr vice president. This caused a major rift between the two men. Then the relationship really turned bitter after Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel on July 11, 1804.

Burr was charged with murder in New York and New Jersey, but neither reached trial after courts overturned the grand jury indictment. Burr fled to Georgia, but returned to Washington, D.C., to complete his term as vice president and presided over the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. The Senate refused to convict Chase and he remains the only Justice of the Supreme Court to be impeached.

This was followed by a bizarre series of events involving Burr that included a suspected conspiracy to recruit a group of volunteers for a military expedition down the Mississippi River, provoke a war with Spain, hoping to split off some western states, and create a new inland empire. The expedition collapsed almost immediately and a co-conspirator of Burr betrayed him by sending alarming messages to President Jefferson. Convinced of Burr’s guilt, Jefferson ordered his arrest and he was taken into custody and treason charges were filed. Burr escaped, but was recaptured and taken to Virginia for trial.

In Richmond, they learned the electrifying news that Burr, former VP of the U.S., had been accused of treason and his trial would be held in their courthouse. The trial of such a prominent person attracted legal officials from a broad area. Chief Justice John Marshall was picked to preside over the trial and Burr’s defense lawyers included Edmund Randolph (U.S. Attorney General under George Washington) and Charles Lee, Attorney General for John Adams. The chief prosecutor was James Monroe’s son-in-law, George Hay.

Notable witnesses included Andrew Jackson, a friend of Burr who thought Jefferson was maligning him and started picking fights with Jefferson’s friends – even challenging star witness General James Wilkerson to a duel. Wilkerson was the co-conspirator who provided the incriminating evidence to Jefferson.

The trial started on May 22, 1807, but despite all the intriguing circumstances, there was a lack of evidence as explicated by Judge Marshall and the jury declared the accused not guilty in September. Most observers conceded that the outcome was inevitable. However, Burr’s political career was finally ended and he left America on a self-imposed exile in Europe (presumably to escape his creditors!).

Intelligent Collector blogger JIM O’NEAL is an avid collector and history buff. He is president and CEO of Frito-Lay International [retired] and earlier served as chair and CEO of PepsiCo Restaurants International [KFC Pizza Hut and Taco Bell].

Washington Recognized the Chaos of Autonomous States

The bronze sculpture *George Washington at Valley Forge* by Henry Merwin Shrady, modeled in 1905, cast circa 1906, sold for $54,970 at an April 2007 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

It had been a long war and George Washington was both tired and relieved to be returning to his plantation in Virginia for a well-deserved retirement. Mount Vernon was badly in need of his full-time attention and his finances were frayed.

However, he was apprehensive about a central government that consisted of a chaotic, ramshackle Congress considered by GW to be “wretchedly managed.” The legislature was a one-vote, one-state body that required a quorum of nine states to operate and a unanimous vote for major laws. This was no “United States,” but a loosely governed confederation of 13 states that were largely autonomous.

It seemed clear that the Articles of Confederation were impotent and in need of major revisions. However, it would probably require a crisis to force the changes and GW could sense that others would be looking to him (once again!) to provide the leadership needed, retirement or not.

He was right on both counts.

The crisis came when thousands of farmers in rural Massachusetts rebelled against tax increases on land the state had imposed to help pay off heavy debts. The farmers, many of whom had lost their land to foreclosure, swamped courthouses and threatened judges using their pitchforks.

They were led by Daniel Shays (hence “Shays’ Rebellion”), an ex-militia captain, and they finally marched on the Springfield arsenal intent on seizing muskets and powder. This anarchy was met by the Massachusetts militia, who fired point-blank into the crowd, and then by General Benjamin Lincoln, who arrived the next day with 4,000 soldiers to quell the rebels.

Washington was mortified by these events, since he feared disgrace from the Europeans who were still skeptical of American self-rule. More importantly, it galvanized him to join James Madison, James Monroe and Edmund Randolph to strengthen the Articles of Confederation they had fought so hard for.

Eventually, an executive branch was established and in February 1789, all 69 presidential electors chose GW unanimously to be the first president of the United States. In March, the new U.S. Constitution officially took effect and, in April, Congress formally sent word to Washington that he had won the presidency.

He borrowed money to pay off his debts and travel to New York again, this time to be inaugurated. After a second four-year term, he was finally able to resume his retirement. This time, it only lasted two years since he died on Dec. 14, 1799.

President Jimmy Carter bestowed the rank of “six-star general” and “General of the Armies of Congress” in the hope that Washington would be the highest-ranking military person of all time. Irrespective of future grade inflation, I’m betting this rank will not be surpassed.

Intelligent Collector blogger JIM O’NEAL is an avid collector and history buff. He is President and CEO of Frito-Lay International [retired] and earlier served as Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Restaurants International [KFC Pizza Hut and Taco Bell].

History Tends to Overlook the Man Who Originated Gerrymandering

John Trumbull’s famous painting *The Declaration of Independence* adorns the reverse of the current $2 bill. Somewhere in the group is Elbridge Gerry.

By Jim O’Neal

“If everyone here was a Gerry, the Liberties of America would be safe against the Gates of Earth and Hell.” – John Adams, July 15, 1776, letter to James Warren, the Second Continental Congress

Adams was praising Elbridge Gerry. Anytime the delegates from the middle colonies started to waver over the issue of independence, Gerry was there to persuade them that such a provocative action was needed to secure the future of America.

Elbridge Thomas Gerry was only 12 years younger than George Washington and was admitted to Harvard College at age 13. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees. He then divided his time between the family garment business and both state and federal governance.

Gerry served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the first and second Congresses (1789-1793). Earlier, after being elected to the Second Continental Congress, he signed the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence, but was one of three men – in addition to George Mason and Edmund Randolph – who refused to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Gerry was stubbornly adamant that it should include a Bill of Rights to provide protection to individuals.

History proved him correct and our current Bill of Rights is foundational for many of the freedoms we now take for granted.

Then as governor of Massachusetts (1810-12), he approved a redistricting plan that ensured Democratic-Republican domination of the state. The shape of one of the new districts resembled that of a salamander, prompting Benjamin Russell, editor of the Boston Gazette, to coin the term “gerrymander.” This has entered our political lexicon to signify redistricting for political advantage.

Thomas Jefferson had been elected president in 1800 and again in 1804. Aaron Burr was VP during his first term and George Clinton (the first governor of New York) served as VP in the second term, 1805-09. Clinton was also elected VP in 1808 with James Madison and thus became the first VP to serve two presidents (John Calhoun would later match this feat). However, Clinton died on April 20, 1812, before the election and there was no provision to replace him.

When James Madison was nominated for his second term in 1812, the Democratic-Republican party selected the old reliable Elbridge Gerry to be his running mate (after John Langdon declined). They were both elected, however Gerry died in November 1814 after serving only about 21 months.

Thus James Madison earned the dubious distinction of being the only president to have two vice presidents die in office. No one particularly cared due to the nature of the job and its insignificance.

Elbridge Gerry was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to be buried in the nation’s capital. He had married a much younger woman – Ann Thompson (James Monroe was best man) – and she holds the distinction of being the last surviving widow of any signer of the Declaration.

Today, gerrymandering has become an art form and voting districts are sliced and diced by ZIP code to create discrete groups of like-minded voters. Political junkies are in broad agreement that this results in major advantages to incumbent officeholders and significantly limits challengers from opposing parties.

Despite Mr. Gerry’s name now only remembered as a tactical political activity, a few avid paper-money fans (including moi) know that Elbridge Gerry is included in John Trumbull’s famous painting The Declaration of Independence that adorns the reverse of the current $2 bill (1976-), with Thomas Jefferson on the obverse. There are several earlier $2 bills with both Hamilton and Jefferson, as well as a National Bank note known as a “Lazy Deuce” due to an odd design.

The Trumbull painting is sometimes confused with the signing of the Declaration when in fact it depicts the five-man drafting committee presenting it to Congress on June 28, 1776. Oddly, there are only 42 of the 56 attendees depicted. But Elbridge Gerry is there for sure.

Now you know.

P.S. One theory is that John Trumbull could not get good resemblances of the 14 missing attendees. Good enough for me.

When George Washington Told a Lie

The U.S. Capitol first appeared in its entirety on Series 1869 $2 Legal Tenders.

By Jim O’Neal

George Washington died in December 1799 at age 67 and numerous writers sensed an opportunity to record the details of his life. One of the first to get a publisher’s approval was an itinerant book peddler and Episcopal priest by the name of Mason L. Weems.

He rushed out The Life of Washington in pamphlet form in mid-January 1800. In that and succeeding volumes, he began manufacturing enduring myths regarding Washington, including the famous “chopping down the cherry tree.” In Weems’ version, 6-year-old George told his father “I cannot tell a lie, I used my little hatchet to cut it down.”

Generations of schoolboys (including me) were taught about the virtues of truth using this delightful little parable. However, there was one man who caught President Washington in an embarrassing lie.

The story begins with a dinner hosted by Thomas Jefferson for Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to resolve two thorny issues being debated. The first was the permanent site for the capital. The second was Hamilton’s insistence on the federal government assuming all the states’ debts from the Revolutionary War.

Jefferson and Madison finally agreed to passage of the debt assumption bill. In return, Hamilton promised to lobby the Pennsylvania delegation to endorse Philadelphia as the temporary capital and a site on the Potomac as the final.

Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved Philly as the capital for 10 years and then a permanent home on a 10-mile-square federal district on the Potomac near Mount Vernon.

When the capital moved to Philadelphia, Washington decided to bring his favorite chef from Mount Vernon, the slave Hercules, who ran an immaculate kitchen. The handsome and talented Hercules had a lot of freedom in Philly and plenty of cash from selling the food left over from presidential dinners.

However, Attorney General Edmund Randolph startled Washington when he told him that under Pennsylvania law, any adult slave residing for six consecutive months was automatically a free person.

So George sent Martha back to Mount Vernon before six months lapsed and told Hercules he wanted him to accompany her to be sure she was well cared for. Hercules became enraged since he was well aware of the law. He was also angered because he was so loyal to the family and this ploy questioned his integrity and fidelity.

He was so sincere that he was allowed to stay in Philadelphia and thus became the only man known to be lied to by George Washington!

P.S. Hercules took advantage of the law and secured his freedom, permanently.