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Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason. By BUCKNER F. MELTON, JR. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002. x, 278 pp. $27.95.
GIVEN the current intensity of "Founders' chic," the recent flurry of accounts of the Burr-Hamilton duel, and the approaching bicentennial of the Burr Conspiracy itself, the appearance of this book at this time is hardly surprising. Over the next few years, we can expect to see a number of new works on the Burr Conspiracy, both popular and scholarly. Melton, a historian and professor of law at the University of North Carolina, blends these approaches with some success, but also with some disturbing shortcomings.
Like most works of popular history, Aaron Burr relies upon a fairly straightforward, chronological narrative to tell the story of the former vice president's plans, his activities in the trans-Appalachian West, and his subsequent trial for treason in Richmond. Most of this story has been told as well, or better,...