And
Burr, angered because of this, and believing that Hamilton had sought to
bring dishonor upon him, challenged Hamilton to a duel--the popular way
of settling such serious grievances. So Hamilton accepted the challenge
and on a morning in the middle of the summer of 1804, just after
sunrise, the duel took place on the heights of the shore of New Jersey,
just above Weehawken. Hamilton fell at the first fire mortally wounded.
The next day he died.
There was great sorrow throughout the entire country, for he was a brave
and good man, and had been a leader since the War of the Revolution. All
the citizens followed him to his rest in Trinity Churchyard, and in the
churchyard to-day you can see his tomb carefully taken care of and
decorated, year by year.
After the death of Hamilton the feeling against Burr in the city was
bitter indeed, and he soon went away.
A few years later, when a project was formed for establishing a great
empire in the southwest and overthrowing the United States, this same
Aaron Burr was thought to be concerned in the plot. When, after a trial,
he was acquitted, he went to live in Europe. But he returned after a
time, and the last years of his life were passed in New York.
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