A duel becomes a major event in this portion of the novel. One of the most famous duels in American history tragically takes the life of Alexander Hamilton. Read more about the famous Burr-Hamilton duel that took place in 1804 using this wikipedia link. In your comment for this post explain why you think that Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton.
September 17, 2008 at 5:33 pm
There was a lot of tension between Burr and Hamilton. They were both politics and I think it was Burr’s intention to kill Hamilton. This is why I think that Burr killed Hamilton.
September 22, 2008 at 5:37 pm
It is very unclear why Burr killed Hamilton. Did Burr really mean to kill Hamilton? I think Burr meant to shoot Hamilton but not kill him. Burr and Hamilton had a long-standing political and personal rivalry. I think Burr just wanted to injure Hamilton because they had such a big rivalry. That is my opinion on the duel of Burr and Hamilton.
September 22, 2008 at 6:57 pm
The Burr-Hamilton Duel is a duel that goes way back in time. Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton on 1804. This duel was the final fight of the Democratic/Republicans and the federalists. This is why Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
September 22, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I think that Burr actually killed Hamilton because they had a duel. an example of this was the charity boxing match last week. An officer was killed, because he got beaten up. Whats the point of that. In this book, it talks about being a gentlemen, where was that in those events?
September 23, 2008 at 4:31 pm
there is no wkipedia link.
September 23, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I believe that Burr actually meant to shoot and kill Hamilton. The facts seem to say that Hamilton shot first, and therefore, after Hamilton wasted his shot, it would have been Burr’s turn to fire. He made a direct hit, so I believe that he purposefully tried to kill Hamilton. The facts are not clear, however, so it may be believed that Hamilton had been trying to shoot Burr, too, but misfired. I believe that Burr wanted to kill Hamilton because of political grief that he caused him: losing the election, losing the governorship of New York, and causing his father to lose an election. The secrets of this duel may never be completely unraveled, but what we do know is that Hamilton was tragically killed in a fight of jealousy.
September 23, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The Burr-Hamilton Duel is very famous and cost Alexander Hamilton his life. I believe that the reason Aaron Burr killed Hamilton because of the tension that arose between the two competitors. The two men had such different views that they actually felt murderous felling toward each other. Though the duel cost Hamilton his life it also cost the survivor Aaron Burr his political career. Burr received many criticisms because of Hamilton’s popularity. The two men didn’t suspect how much this insignificant duel would cost them beforehand.
September 23, 2008 at 8:40 pm
There are many reasons why I think Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton. The main reason would be that Hamilton took the presidency away from Burr. He changed the votes in the House of Representatives to make Thomas Jefferson president. Another reason would be that in the 1804 New York governor position Hamilton supported Morgan Lewis, the man that Burr was running against. Lewis ended up winning the election. All these things could have enraged Aaron Burr, causing him to shot and killed Alexander Hamilton during their duel.
September 23, 2008 at 9:10 pm
The Burr-Hamilton Duel was between two major American Politicians, Secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr shot and killed Hamilton, when Hamilton fired into the air first as a sign of courage. Burr regrettably shot Hamilton, he did not know of the pre duel pledge, which was to fire not at the other person but to miss. It was an either intentional that Burr shot Hamilton or a mistake, because he did not know of the pre-pledge.
September 23, 2008 at 9:18 pm
THis is why i think Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton. One reason was because both men were long time political rivals and Hamilton often published articles critisizing Burr. Another main reason was because Hamilton insulted him at a dinner party so Burr chalenged Hamilton to a duel. These remarks were taken very seriously by Burr which is why i think Burr shot and killed Hamilton.
September 23, 2008 at 10:09 pm
In American history, a famous duel took place. This duel sadly took the life of Alexander Hamilton. So why did Burr actually shoot Hamilton? Well, the history of them was that Burr and Hamilton were political enemies. That then led to a duel in a remote place and that is where Hamilton died. What I think happened was that Hamilton fired a shot that was not intended to hit Burr. Burr reacted and then shot Hamilton. I think that he didn’t purposely shoot him and did it because he just automatically reacted and used the shot as self defense. We will never know why though for the death of Alexander Hamilton.
September 24, 2008 at 12:25 am
I think that Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton because, one, there first starting off with tension between Hamilton’s journalistic defamation of Burr’s character during the 1804 New York Gubernatorial Race, which Burr was one of the candidates. The duel, that took place in 1979, was a final long conflict between Democratic-Republicans and Federalists, when Burr captured a Senate seat from Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s father-in-law would support the Federalists. They both have had many duels before, and have won many. But early in the morning on June 11, 1804, they had both departed in separate boats, being rowed across the river to a spot known as the Heights of Weehawken in New Jersey. They both chose this place, since the dueling had been outlawed in New York. The first shot was made! Hamilton being the one to take this first shot, shot it up in the air but Burr, having no control had taken his gun and shot the bullet straight into Hamilton’s lower abdomen, above the right hip. The bullet, called the Musket Ball, ricocheted off Hamilton’s second or third false rib, fracturing it, and caused organ damage. Hamilton collapsed immediately as Burr walked toward Hamilton in a speechless manner. Hamilton did fire his gun first, but aimed to miss Burr, sending his ball into the tree above where Burr was standing. But Burr on the other hand did not know of this here pledge, and took aim to fire at Hamilton. Personally, I think Burr didn’t really mean to shot the musket ball at Hamilton I think he thought Hamilton was the first one to shoot, so he didn’t want to get hit, so he shot as a fast reflex, something that we all have, but that is my opinion on why I think burr actually shot and killed Hamilton.
September 24, 2008 at 8:12 am
After reading more about the famous Burr-Hamilton, i can conclude that Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton, because Burr was reputed as a not very good shot. That is why Burr shot and killed Hamilton. Hamilton’s intentions were not to fire but fired after he was shot. That was Hamilton’s intentions.
September 24, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I think Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton because of political disputes. Burr took Hamilton’s father-in-law seat in the senate. Next Hamilton endorsed Morgan Lewis who defeated Burr in a New York election for governor. Also Hamilton had put out mean ads about Burr after it was evident that Burr would no longer be Thomas Jefforson’s Vice President . The reason I think Burr shot him was because of heated political life they had between the two of them.
September 24, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were no doubt, rivals; they hated each other. Not just in politics, but they shared and personal rivalry – they just did not like each other. I think that the reason Aaron Burr purposely killed Hamilton was to save his own career. If there wasn’t his reputation at stake, I don’t think that he would’ve aimed at Hamilton, nonetheless, his heart. I think that he would have just aimed in the air or off to the side, just as Alexander Hamilton had done.
September 24, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Aaron Burr shot and mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton fired first but it looks like he meant to miss because he shot up in the air behind Burr. Burr shot Hamilton who died a day later. It is reported that years later Burr boasted about missing Hamilton’s heart only because the mist was in his eyes. I believe Burr killed Hamilton in cold blood.
September 24, 2008 at 8:14 pm
The duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr was a very famous and tragic one. Aaron Burr shot Hamilton and the next day he died. I think that the reason Burr did this is the fact that he was angry at Hamilton for the past. I think he just killed him to feel better about himself. It is very disapointing that someone would do something so bad just because they had a past rivalry. He should have been a bigger person and just moved on and left the past where it belongs.
September 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I think that Burr actually shot Alexander Hamilton, because he was angry at to begin with. Also since normally people do not die in duels this shows that he was very mad.
September 24, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I do not think it was smart to deliberately miss Burr and not fire your second shot. If I were in that position, I would have taken good aim and shot the man in the leg or foot. I would not kill Burr because I don’t think killing will resolve anything. I think Hamilton let Burr kill him for unknown reasons. These are only a few reasons why it would not be smart as to throw your life away.
September 24, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The Burr- Hamilton duel was a duel of honor. Hamilton had actively campaigned against him in Burr’s race for governor of New York and had insulted Burr. Hamilton refused to apologize to Burr after his insults, so Burr called a duel. During the duel, Hamilton intentionally didn’t hit Burr, but Burr shot him on purpose. He had been offended in many ways by Hamilton and felt that it was right. I think that Alexander Hamilton did the right by not shooting Burr and that even though Aaron Burr’s honor was offended they could’ve settled their disagreement in more peaceful ways.
September 25, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Burr could have shot Hamilton for many reasons. It might have had something to do with opinions. Or it may have been something insulting about someone else. Or it may have been a physical skirmish. This is why Burr might have shot Hamilton.
September 29, 2008 at 9:28 pm
In American history many duels took place. In the Burr-Hamilton duel Hamilton is shot. Burr and Hamilton were enemies in politics. I think that burr actually killed Hamilton on accident. I believe that his weapon misfired and happen to shoot Hamilton. This is why I thing that Hamilton was shot.
September 30, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I don’t agree with Darian about Hamilton not meaning to hit Burr. He could have shot at him and missed.
September 30, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I agree with Darian to the T. Everything she says in the paragraph makes sense. You can tell from the article on wikipedia that Hamilton and Burr had been political enemies for a very long time. The other reason that Darian stated, is that Burr probably thought that Hamilton was actually going to shot him. When Hamilton fired, Burr reacted on a split second decision and shot Hamilton. These to examples are very good and very correct in my opinion.
October 6, 2008 at 11:05 am
The famous Burr-Hamilton duel tragically killed the great Alexander Hamilton. He ment not to kill Burr, so he purposly missed him and hit a tree behind him. Burr was afraid that he was really going to get shot, so he impulsively shot back to kill Hamilton. Burr and Hamilton were political enemies, which is what started this duel. I think that Burr was scared so he shot to kill at Alexander Hamilton. I think that he regretted killing him, according to the eyewittness accounts.
*as a note, the wiki link didn’t work for me, so here it is for anyone else who is having trouble
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr-Hamilton_duel
October 8, 2008 at 4:08 pm
In the Burr- Hamilton duel, Burr shot Hamilton. I think he wanted to kill him because they hated each other. I don’t think he tried to kill Hamilton, but he did want to hurt him. Though no one will never know if this was intentional or not, from what people said it seems like that he wanted to kill Hamilton. These are some reasons why I think Burr purposly shot Hamilton.
October 12, 2008 at 9:33 pm
In the famous Burr- Hamilton dual, something remarkable happened. Burr killed Hamilton even though he was just trying to wound him to teach him a lesson. Burr thought he was also going to get shot at so he took the first available shot and killed Alexander Hamilton. In the true case, Hamilton did want to kill Burr, but since was Burr was insulted by Hamilton’s comments, he fired and killed him. This dual truely was important in American history.
October 13, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Here is why I believe that Burr actually shot and killed Hamilton. Hamilton fired into the air to show courage, but apparently shot Burr. Burr did not know the pre-pledge so he thought that Hamilton had tried to kill him with that shot. Burr then shot Hamilton above the right hip, which later killed him. The death of Alexander Hamilton was really just a misunderstanding.
October 13, 2008 at 6:16 pm
First of all, I don’t know why America had fights like duels back then because shooting someone for just an argument is just sad. But one famous duel in history that I know of is when Alexander Hamilton faced off with Aaron Burr. Alexander was a very smart guy that would be a very nice president for the U.S. but the only thing Alex was missing to be president was that he was born in France. Vice president Burr was also very close of being president. Alex had stopped burr to be president though. Aaron was very upset so he wanted to challenge Alex to a duel. In the morning of July 11, 1804, these two men fired. At first people said Alex purposely missed burr but we will never be sure. Next burr fired and the bullet hit Alex. Alex had died the next day. This is why I think duels are bad because men lose an agreement and their life.
October 13, 2008 at 6:31 pm
One famous duel during colonial times was between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. It happened in 1804 when Hamilton wanted to stop Burr from winning his re election for vice president. Burr responded by challenging his opponent to a duel, an invitation Hamilton could not deny. Unfortunately it cost him his life. This was one of the famous duels in the colonial times.
October 13, 2008 at 6:43 pm
The Burr- Hamilton duel is a famous duel that Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were involved in. They had a long-standing personal and political rivalry that finally came out in the duel. Hamilton shot first by accident and luckily hit a tree near Burr. Burr misread the fire and shot at Hamilton trying to wound or even kill him. Burr hit Hamilton right on and he died later the next day. I think that Burr shot and killed Hamilton because he thought that Hamilton went against the rules of dueling and tried to kill or wound him.
October 13, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I disagree with Jack P. Hamilton did not know the rules of the duel, so he didn’t wait for Burr to be ready so he just fired. Also, if he fired to purposely miss him, then why would he go back and try to kill him? I agree with you though when you said that you would not kill him if you had to shot, because that wouldn’t resolve anything. I disagree though because I don’t think that Hamilton purposely let Burr kill him, he was probably just caught off guard.
October 13, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I agree with Jack. Burr did kill Hamilton but I agree with Jack that he was just trying to teach him a lesson. This was a very importan dual in history and it showed how silly it is to try and settle arguements by firing guns at each other.
October 13, 2008 at 10:48 pm
It is a little foggy to me why Burr had killed Hamilton. I wonder if this was an accident. Burr probably tried to just shoot Hamilton, I highly doubt he meant to kill him. They had a rivalary from a personal and a political stand point. I believe that weather done on purpose or not, he obviously had some cruel intentions. This is what i think of Burr shooting Hamilton.
October 13, 2008 at 10:57 pm
It is very foggy to me why Burr would have killed Hamilton. I wonder if he had done it on purpose. Burr probably didn’t mean to kill him but to just sevierly hurt or injure him. The two had a rivalary from a personal and politcal standpoint so they probably hated one another. Weather or not this was done accidentally or purposly, there was most likey cruel intentions. Then again, I don’t think Burr should have fired the gun because there is always a very high chance the bullet will kill the person on the oppistie end. Still, I think Burr did not mean to take it too far as to where is life ends. This is what i think about the shooting Burr had done that killed Hamilton.
October 13, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Christian F, i agree with your responce. This case very well could have been just to hurt him, and not end his life. He may have accidently killed him with only the idea of injury.
October 14, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I think that Burr shot Hamilton for one reason and one reason only. Since Burr thought of the duel and realized that he may be shot and killed first, he took the first shot that he had to Hamilton. I think this is really the real reason why Burr shot Hamilton. This dual is one the most famous duels in America, so there had to be a reason why. But the reason why I think so, is because it was so sudden and tragic for that time. This is why I think Burr shot Hamilton.