The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr: Legislation, Politics, and the Character Wars of the New Nation (Cambridge Research on the American Structure)

The Burr treason trial, one of many best legal trials in American historical past, was important for a number of causes. The authorized proceedings lasted seven months and featured a few of the nation’s finest legal professionals. It additionally pitted President Thomas Jefferson (who declared Burr responsible with out the good thing about a trial and who masterminded the prosecution), Chief Justice John Marshall (who sat as a trial decide within the federal circuit court docket in Richmond), and former Vice President Aaron Burr (who was accused of planning to separate the western states from the Union) towards one another. At difficulty, along with the lifetime of Aaron Burr, had been the rights of legal defendants, the constitutional definition of treason, and the which means of separation of powers within the Structure. Capturing the sheer drama of the lengthy trial, Kent Newmyer’s e-book sheds new gentle on the chaotic course of by which legal professionals, judges, and politicians usual legislation for the brand new nation.