In this he had
triumphed over Hamilton; but in the more recent contest for Governor of
the State, he found that the Republican party adhered to principle, and
refused to be controlled by him, repudiating his every advance; and
learned, also, that the Federal party would not unite in accepting him.
Defeated on every side, in all his views, and mainly through the
instrumentality of Hamilton, he determined, after killing his rival, if
possible, to destroy the Government.
"There was nothing unfair, or out of the ordinary method of conducting
such affairs, in this duel. Hamilton's eldest son, but a little while
before, had been slain, in a duel, on the very spot where his father
fell, and the event created little or no excitement; and when Burr saw
himself met with universal scorn, he knew it was the eruption of an
accumulated hatred toward himself, and that all his ambition for future
preferment and power was at an end. Immediately he left for the West,
and commenced an abortive effort to break up the Union.
"The Allegheny Mountains opposed, at that time, an obstacle to free
communication with the East.
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