Thread on the Burr-Hamilton Duel

Alexander Hamilton had publicly smeared Aaron Burr for decades. After Hamilton derailed Burr's plans to be elected governor of New York by launching vague but extremely serious attacks on Burr's character, Burr challenged him to a duel.
Duels during that period were very formalized. Both men had participated in the dueling process in the past and were familiar with its rules and intricacies. Despite this, at every turn Hamilton broke the rules to create a false narrative of victimization.
One thing you have to know is that duels are designed so that they don't happen unless absolutely necessary. Although Hamilton publicly insulted Burr, he refused to admit that he did anything wrong or apologize, rebuffing all attempts at compromise from Burr's negotiators.
Another thing to know is that duels are designed to be as fair as possible. Both parties should to be on equal footing when it comes to weaponry, (dueling pistols are sold in pairs). To minimize the risk of law enforcement intervention, Hamilton was allowed to choose the pistols.
Hamilton selected his brother-in-law's pistols, which were designed with a secret hair trigger mechanism. Once activated, the mechanism would dramatically lighten the trigger pull, allowing for greater accuracy. Hamilton knew about this mechanism, but did not tell Burr.
This violates one of the most important rules of the dueling code, but Hamilton was not done yet. Another important ritual in dueling is to delope or "throwing away your fire" to indicate you do not think the dispute is worth killing over despite your courage.
In order to delope, the duel participant must first notify their opponent of their intent to do so. Then, on the day of the duel, he is to fire his first shot into the ground. If the opponent were to shoot afterwards, he would greatly dishonor himself.
Before the duel, Hamilton told many people of his plan to delope on the day of the duel. One person he did not tell was Aaron Burr, the only person he needed to notify. This is a critical breach of dueling protocol, because both parties need to enter with the intent to finish.
Hamilton even wrote an open letter, to be released after the duel, stating his intent to delope and his opposition to the practice in dueling in general. Despite this, he made no attempt to resolve his dispute with Burr, or notify him of his intent.
On the day of the duel, Hamilton gave no indication that he planned to delope. In fact, he made a big show of preparing to kill Burr. As the two were taking their places, Hamilton called for the proceedings to stop, put on his glasses, and sighted in his pistol.
Hamilton had the first shot. Rather than fire into the ground to signify his intent to delope, Hamilton fired directly at Burr. The shot went high, knocking off a tree branch behind Burr's head. Burr returned fire almost instantly and hit Hamilton in the chest.
Having been mortally wounded, Hamilton continued his shameful behavior. He claimed repeatedly to the gathered witnesses that he hadn't fired a shot, despite the clear evidence to the contrary. He died the next day, a coward to the very last minute.
After the duel, Hamilton's lies about the duel were spread everywhere. Burr was disgraced. Although both New York and New Jersey attempted to charge Burr with murder, both states declined to prosecute, recognizing that Burr had conducted himself in a totally honorable manner.
When Burr was told that Hamilton claimed he planned to delope, Burr, recognizing the clear breach of dueling protocol, simply replied "Contemptible, if true." Despite doing nothing wrong, Burr still fell victim to Hamilton's last lie. The smear campaign continues to this day.
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