11 July—Today marks the 221^st anniversary of the Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel on the dueling grounds of Weehawken, New Jersey. Yes, it wasn’t uncommon for American towns to have dueling grounds in the good old days. Just as towns have dog parks nowadays.

At the time of the duel, Burr was Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, but had it not been for Hamilton he might have been chosen president and Jefferson vice president in the 1800 election. Electors cast two votes each in those days, and the top vote-getter became president while the second-highest vote-getter became vice president.

As it happened in 1800, Jefferson and Burr, running as Democratic-Republicans (commonly known these days as Jeffersonian Republicans), having outpolled the Adams-Pinckney Federalist ticket, tied at 73 electoral votes each. So it was up to the House of Representatives, with each of the 16 state delegations casting one vote, to break the tie. As it also happened in 1800, the House was controlled by the Federalists, Hamilton’s party.

It took 36 ballots in the House, but Jefferson ultimately won the top job—as the party would have preferred in the first place. No surprise that Burr didn’t take it too well. The salt in Burr’s wound was that Hamilton, although a political enemy (as opposed to rival) and no personal friend of Jefferson, saw Burr as a greater threat to the republic and thus used his considerable influence to push for Jefferson. At the time, by the way, Hamilton had no official connection with government. Just lots of influence.

Jefferson never really trusted Burr either, and by 1804, the Jefferson team realized that Burr was actually a liability, so he wasn’t offered a spot on the presidential ticket. Instead, while still serving as vice president, he decided to run for governor of New York—with Federalist backing, no less. But that didn’t stop Federalist Hamilton from actively—and rather viciously—campaigning against him and supporting the Democratic-Republican who ultimately won the gubernatorial election in April.

After his latest ignominious loss that he attributed to Hamilton’s libelous denunciation, Burr had his honor to defend, and all that, and since relatively few people died in duels he reckoned he had nothing to lose, so he challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton had moral and personal misgivings about dueling and had a son who had died in a duel, but a guy had to to what a guy had to do.

Hamilton, the challengee, had choice of weapons, so, rather than swords or seltzer bottles, he chose pistols, in particular his brother-in-law’s Wogdon & Barton (English, of course) flintlock smooth-bore dueling pistols with hair triggers and sights.

It’s said that Hamilton took the first shot and missed. It’s also said that he intentionally missed, perhaps even firing into the air. But Burr’s shot hit Hamilton in the gut, causing the fatal injury. Hamilton died the next day.

It must be mentioned that Aaron Burr—properly, Aaron Burr Jr.—was an alumnus of Tapping Reeve’s little law school on South Street as well as Tapping’s brother-in-law. And Mrs. Reeve is the eponym of Sally Burr Road . . .