A Dubious Anniversary
Historical Lunacy that cost us a Founding Father
Today is July 11th and there were three historical events that happened in the past, though none are really well known. Three separate types of events — politics, sports, and literature. In 1914 future slugger George Herman (Babe) Ruth pitched his first major league game for the Boston Red Sox. He went on to win three World Series and hit 714 home runs, which record lasted until the 1970’s.
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In 1960 Harper Lee had her great novel -To Kill a Mockingbird — published and was later turned into a movie starring Gregory Peck — one of the most memorable films of its time.
The dubious and tragic anniversary was over 150 years before that, and 222 years ago. In 1804 one of our Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, died in a duel with the sitting Vice President, Aaron Burr. Hamilton was the primary author of the Federalist Papers, the document largely responsible for the ratification of the US Constitution.
The duel was driven by Burr’s contention that Hamilton had sullied his reputation as well as a simmering bad feelings between the two for years. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, and due to the customs of the day Hamilton felt he had to appear. His shot went wide, while Burr’s shot hit Hamilton in the abdomen and he died the next day, in severe pain. Due to the lousy medicine of the times they couldn’t save his life. Today he would have lived.
Hamilton is revered today and has a great legacy. Burr is just a footnote in history. He was later tried for treason, though acquitted, for a plot involving an attempt to seize territory for a separate country.
Honor is important, but at the risk of your life? Ludicrous. Yet, there were numerous duels with no consequences for a life taken. Many times nobody died in the duels, but there was no guarantee. We view the national origins through a special lens and sometimes give more credit to the Founding Fathers than they are due. They weren’t saints, very human, and we should not ignore their flaws. We should do the same for our current leaders and hold them accountable for the errors and excesses that they make. Hamilton’s death was a tragic event that should not have happened the way it did. He should have been allowed to die in a good old age, like what happended with fellow Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who hold a footnote in history with their same day deaths years later, on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — July 4th, 1826.
