Never has an American trial produced
such an impressive set of key players:
The defendant--Aaron Burr,
founding father, Vice President (and slayer of Alexander Hamilton in their
famous duel three years earlier); The trial judge--John Marshall,
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (and the most important
justice in history); The force behind the prosecution-- Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration of Independence, President of the United States;
Defense
attorneys--Edmund Randolph and Luther Martin, both delegates
to the Constitutional Convention and among the most prominent men of the
day;
Prosecutors-- Charles Lee, former Attorney General, and William
Wirt, future presidential candidate.
The high-stakes treason trial of
Aaron Burr came at an unstable time in our young nation's history.....[CONTINUED] |
