A View of the Political Conduct of Aaron Burr, Esq. Vice President of the United States

[CHEETHAM, James] 

A View of the Political Conduct of Aaron Burr, Esq. Vice President of the United States

New York: Denniston & Cheetham, 1802 

8vo., original paper wraps, tied with binding string; all edges untrimmed; pp. [iii], 4-120; covers rather heavily creased, torn and water stained; lacking most of the spine; with ‘Aaron Burr’ written in ink an early hand to the upper cover; and with some numbering (accounts?) doodled to the rear cover; pages spotted and offset internally, with some water staining to the title page, still perfectly legible; a rare example of this work seldom found unbound and in the original wraps. 

A scathing pamphlet which attacks Aaron Burr’s political and moral character, written by Cheetham, a British hatmaker who had moved to New York in 1794 after being acquitted of charges for conspiring against the British government. Cheetham had assumed editorship of the American Citizen and General Advertiser in 1801, and used the newspaper to attack both the Federalist Party and Aaron Burr. His accusations led to several libel suits, which is perhaps unsurprisingly given the vehemence of his tone. “He has been ascending the ladder of fame and power by means on which no honest man can” Cheetham writes, going on to call him ‘dangerous’, ‘unfit’ and ‘corrupt’. “I have warned the people of an evil of great magnitude”, he concludes, “it is for them to apply a remedy”. 

An important tract in the ‘pamphlet war’. Burr was reportedly so concerned about his reputation following this publication, that he attempted to have all (estimated 1250) copies suppressed.