Caption

To the Independent Electors of the State is one of the earliest records of American political propaganda authored by Aaron Burr and his campaign team. Although not widely known about, this document contains a lot of history regarding the early American government, early New York politics, and the great rivalry between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. 

Physical Description

The document is approximately 11.5 inches wide and 17.75 inches tall and written on a type of linen or cotton based fabric. Unlike other antique documents, this one has not yellowed and is still in very good shape, although the edges are very uneven and damaged. There is print on only one side and was most likely created through the use of a printer press. The text includes a few paragraphs outlining why Aaron Burr believes he is the better candidate for New York state governor, and it also includes a list of members from the Clinton and Livingston families along with their government positions and the suspected corrupt acts they committed. 

Narrative

In the year 1791, Aaron Burr, a Democratic Republican, ran against incumbent Philip Schulyeler, A Federalist, for a seat representing New York in the U.S. Senate. With the help of the prominent Clinton and Livingston families, Aaron Burr beat Schuyler. This loss was particularly devastating for Alexander Hamilton, who saw his father-in-law’s defeat as a major setback for the Federalist Party. In addition to that, Schuyler was Hamilton’s father in law. Burr served one term as a senator, and lost reelection to Schuyler because of Hamilton’s growing influence in national politics. In 1796, Burr ran for president and came in fourth place. The winner of the 1796 election was John Adams, and the runner up was Thomas Jefferson, which in those days meant Adams and Jefferson were President and Vice President. Although the two share a lot of common history, their different points of view led to many issues in the executive branch. 

In 1800, Jefferson and Adams ran against each other in the first election that used party “tickets”. As mentioned earlier, the candidate with the most votes would become president. To work within these election rules, the Democratic-Republicans and Federalists devised the same strategy, which was that if a state leaned toward a particular party (think red or blue), its electors, who each had two votes, would vote in such a way that the intended presidential candidate would receive one more vote than the intended vice-presidential candidate. For example, if state X had six electors, five of them would cast one vote for candidate Y (intended president) and candidate Z (intended vice president). However, the sixth elector would cast both votes for Y. The Federalists followed this plan but lost the election. The Democratic-Republicans won, yet one elector misunderstood the strategy and failed to act as the deciding vote, resulting in a tie between Jefferson, the intended president, and Burr, the intended vice president. Under the Constitution, the election would be settled by the House of Representatives. Instead of following the plan, Burr tried convincing many representatives to select him as president. Hamilton chose to  step up and convinced many representatives to vote for Jefferson, claiming that Burr is by far worse than Jefferson. After 36 rounds of voting, Hamilton’s influence beat Burr’s campaign. 

Although the Democratic Republican party got what it wanted, Burr’s efforts to take the election from Jefferson led to a tension between the two. Furthermore, Hamilton’s influence in the election led to a deeper feeling of resentment from Burr. As a result of this feud, the 12th Amendment to the constitution was passed in 1804, which created a distinction between an elector vote for president and vice president. 

In the year 1804, it was very clear that Jefferson was running for reelection, and it was also very clear that Burr wasn’t going to be on the ticket. In 1804, George Clinton, member of the famous Clinton family, chose to not seek reelection as governor of New York, and Burr saw this as an opportunity to gain back some power. Despite being a well known New York politician and lawyer, Burr couldn’t beat his opponent, Morgan Lewis, who was backed by the heavily influential Clinton and Livingston families. The reason these two families changed their positions on Burr has a lot to do with party loyalty. In 1791, the families supported Burr because they were at odds with Hamilton, who was one of their biggest rivals. In 1804, Burr was seen as a disgrace that only the fringe political groups supported, hence why they supported prominent Democratic Republican Morgan Lewis. It is also important to mention that George Clinton was nominated (and became) Jefferson’s vice president during the presidential election of 1804.       

Given his reputation, Burr was constantly attacked, especially by Hamilton. In response, Burr’s campaign wrote and published the broadside To the Independent Electors of the State, which urged voters to see that he was the better option and also accused the Clinton and Livingston families of being corrupt political aristocracies. Although the message was aimed in direct response to the comments of these families, it raised many concerns within the voter base,  

especially since Burr said that he could fill a newspaper with the full list of names and crimes. Despite working overtime to win, Burr lost the race in a landslide. 

A few days after the inauguration of Morgan Lewis, a letter from politician and lawyer named Charles Cooper was leaked and published. The letter was intended for Philip Schuyler, and it was regarding some trash talk that Hamilton had said while at a dinner party. Burr took this to heart, and began exchanging letters with Hamilton asking for an explanation and an apology. Hamilton responded by saying that he will not apologize for speaking the truth. As a result, Burr challenged Hamilton to the famous duel that took place on July 11, 1804, of which Hamilton did not survive. Although Burr was acquitted, he never stepped foot in politics again.

Provenance

 When To the Independent Electors of the State was released, it was hung anywhere the public and Burr’s enemies could see it, such as town halls, shop windows, and post offices. More importantly however, it would have been circulated by political circles. It is unknown how this broadside was acquired by Historic Huguenot Street; however, I do have a theory. The Clinton family resided in the Orange County region, while the Livingstons owned and lived on a massive property in Columbia County, both of which are within an hour’s drive from Historic Huguenot Street. Since the Hasbroucks of New Paltz were a smaller aristocratic political family, and since all three families were prominent Democratic Republicans, it is very likely that they at least shared the same inner circle. Given this context, it is not unlikely that someone from this circle held on to the document and stored it in an attic.  

References

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