! ! The Murder of Thomas Jefferson ! Lainie Esralew ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The Murder of Thomas Jefferson
It is July 5th, 1808. Last night, President Thomas Jefferson was found dead in his home,
Monticello, in Virginia. From the scars on his neck, it is clear that he has been murdered. While his family and followers throughout the nation may need time to mourn and recover from this tragic incident, it is crucial that the murderer is identified as soon as possible. I have been hired by Sheriff Cuneo to find the murderer and have been analyzing the clues at the scene. These clues point to a number of possible suspects, but after doing further investigation, it has been narrowed down to two: Timothy Pickering, an outspoken opposer of the Jeffersonian party and presidency, and Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s audacious opponent of the Election of 1800. I have done thorough research on their backgrounds, political views and careers, relations to Jefferson, and possible motives for the crime. Pickering’s bold, self-interested character and hostility toward
Jefferson led me to believe he was the perpetrator at first. However, Burr’s motives to kill
Jefferson are more personal and driven by jealously and the need for revenge, and because of this, I have concluded that Aaron Burr committed the crime.
Before Burr came into consideration, Timothy Pickering was the prime suspect. He is a well-educated Federalist from Massachusetts who fought in the Revolutionary War and has held many political positions, including Secretary of State. According to the U.S. Department of
State, he “became Secretary of State in a controversial manner, and controversy would characterize his tenure.” Edmund Randolph, the previous Secretary of State, was opposed to
Jay’s Treaty, an agreement with Britain developed by Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton. As a Federalist and Anglophile, Pickering saw Randolph’s attitude toward the treaty as traitorous. He distorted the translation of French documents to say that Randolph had been communicating secretly with the French government. This was intercepted by the British Navy and shown to
President Washington, and Randolph later resigned. Pickering then served as Secretary of State for the rest of Washington’s presidency and until 1800 during Adams’s presidency. The XYZ affair further ignited his enmity toward the French and he wanted to go to a full scale war, while
Adams sought to negotiate and end the Quasi-War with France. Pickering was forced to resign when caught interfering with Adams’s plans. Pickering’s manipulative and bold behavior during his career shows that he is willing to take any risks to benefit the Federalist party, including murdering the leader of the Republican party.
Pickering’s personality and past show that he is capable of the crime, but his personal ties to Jefferson and the clues at the scene needed to be investigated to determine whether he is actually guilty. The pass to Congress was the first clue that pointed to Pickering, who currently serves as a Massachusetts senator. As for his motives to commit the crime, he and Jefferson were on opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to the French. Jefferson believed that the U.S. had a valid alliance with France and that supporting Britain would go against American principles because the British represented tyranny. On the other hand, Federalists believed that since the treaty the U.S. made with France was with the king, who was overthrown and killed, it was no longer valid. Pickering also disapproved of acts that Jefferson implemented during his presidency, including the Embargo Act. This links him to the cartoon that says “O Grab
Me” (“embargo” backwards) which was left at the scene. Political cartoons like this one were all over newspapers after the passing of the unpopular Embargo Act, which prohibited trade with foreign ports. The Federalist party, which includes many merchants, was against this because in their economic plan, they hope to make the U.S. a huge commercial power. These differing views and mistakes that Pickering feels Jefferson made during his presidency may have led him to kill Jefferson.
The clues and motives that pointed to Pickering were very convincing, but as more research was done, Burr seemed to be the one guilty of the crime. Burr’s history with Jefferson began in 1800, when Jefferson was the leading candidate for president for the Republican party and chose Burr, a successful attorney general and senator from New York, as his running mate.
Jefferson was the public favorite, but surprisingly, he and Burr both ended up receiving 73 electoral votes, leaving it up to the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives to determine the next president. Although Burr was supposed to be Jefferson’s vice president, he did not back down, showing his power-hungry character. The Federalists were divided, but their leader,
Hamilton, who despised Burr and believed he was untrustworthy, persuaded many of them to vote for Jefferson, handing him the presidency. Again, two years later, when Burr ran for governor of New York, Hamilton interfered with his campaign by declaring him “unprincipled, voluptuary, and without scruple.” Burr, infuriated by this, challenged Hamilton to a duel in which he infamously shot first, leaving his enemy of many years with a severe injury that led to his death. Given this past behavior, it certainly seems plausible that Burr has committed yet another murder out of revenge.
In the years after the Burr-Hamilton duel, Burr’s political career ended and his reputation declined. Jefferson no longer wanted him as his running mate for his second term. Burr fled to the newly acquired lands from the Louisiana Purchase and came into contact with James
Wilkinson, the governor of the territory. Burr shared with Wilkinson his strong desire to create a new empire of the unsettled western lands. Initially, they conspired together, but in the end,
Wilkinson betrayed Burr and informed Jefferson of the plot. Jefferson arrested and persecuted
Burr for Hamilton’s murder and treason because of this “coup d’état” against the government.
The trial took place last year, and although Burr was acquitted, he was left with limited career options, few friends of political importance, and a negative public reputation. In Burr’s mind, all of his troubles originated from the election of 1800 against Thomas Jefferson. Just today, officials on the case have received word that Burr has fled to Europe and several clues also point to Burr as the perpetrator. The foreign coin found at the scene was likely money that he collected in order to support himself once in Europe. The map of the U.S. and surrounding territories may have belonged to him as well. After the duel, he journeyed throughout the country to the Ohio
River Valley and Louisiana Purchase lands. The last important clue is the paper with the word
“Jacobin” written on it. This could have belonged to Burr because as a Republican, he supported the French and the Jacobin revolutionary party. He may even be headed to France now.
Thomas Jefferson was a man loved by many, but he still had enemies. Both Timothy
Pickering and Aaron Burr had significant animosity toward him and could have been motivated to kill him. Pickering opposed Jefferson’s views on many topics, but Burr’s personal ties to
Jefferson make him more likely to be the killer. Jefferson defeated him in the presidential election, rejected him as vice president, and arrested and persecuted him. Burr was consequently motivated by revenge. His first vengeful attempt at secession of the western territories failed.
With few opportunities remaining in the U.S., Burr made plans to start a new life in Europe, but he made sure to exact his vengeance before leaving. For these reasons, I have concluded that
Aaron Burr is the murderer of President Thomas Jefferson. Works Cited
"Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Timothy Pickering." U.S. Deparment of State: Office of the Historian. United States Department of State, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.