Theodosia Burr Alston, on Her Father’s Exile, to Dolley Madison, 1809
Dolley Madison, drawn by J. Herring after J. Wood, ca. 1850. (The Gilder Lehrman Collection of American History, GLC02231.02)
In 1807 Aaron Burr, former vice president of the United States, was accused of plotting to establish a separate country in the West on land claimed by the United States and Spain. He was charged with treason, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. In disgrace and in fear for his life, he left for Europe. His daughter, Theodosia Alston, wrote letters to political leaders in an effort to secure a smooth return for her father. This letter to Dolley Madison on June 24, 1809, focuses on the friendship between Burr and Madison during the 1790s. After four years in exile, Aaron Burr returned to America in mid-1812. The United States was on the brink of war with Britain and the Burr Conspiracy seemed ancient history.
A Letter from Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809
Rocky River Springs, North Carolina, 24 June 1809
Madam
You may, perhaps, be surprised at receiving a letter from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that my Father, once your Friend, is now in exile; and that the President only can restore him to me & to his country. Ever since the choice of the people was first declared in favor of Mr Madison; my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the hope that I too should have reason to rejoice. Convinced that Mr. Madison would neither feel nor judge from the feelings or judgment of others, I had no doubt of his hastening to relieve a man whose character he had been enabled to appreciate during a confidential intercourse of long continuance; and whom he must know incapable of the designs attributed to him. My anxiety on this subject has, however, become too painful to be alleviated by anticipations which no events have yet tended to justify; and in this state of intolerable suspense, I have determined to address myself to you, & request that you will, in my name, apply to the President for a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron Burr; I still expect it from him as a man feeling and candour, as one acting for the world & posterity.
Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of liberality, and even justice, should yield to consideration of policy; but what policy can require the absence of my Father at present? Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands arraigned; evidently to pursue it any further would now be impossible. There is not left one pretext of alarm even to calumny; for, bereft of fortune, of popular favor, & almost of friends, what could he accomplish? And, whatever may be the apprehensions or the clamors of the ignorant & the interested, surely the timid illiberal system which would sacrifice a man to a remote & unreasonable possibility that he might infringe some law, founded on an unjust, unwarrantable suspicion that he would desire it, cannot be approved by Mr Madison, and must be unnecessary to a President so loved, so honoured. Why, then, is my Father banished from a country for which he has encountered wounds & dangers & fatigue for years? Why is he driven from his friends, from an only child, to pass an unlimited time in exile, and that too at an age when others are reaping the harvest of past toils, or ought at least to be providing seriously for the comfort of ensuing years? I do not seek to soften you by this recapitulation. I wish only to remind of all the injuries which are inflicted on one of the first characters the United States ever produced. Perhaps it may be well to assure you there is no truth in a report, lately circulated, that my Father intends returning immediately.
He never will return to conceal himself in a country on which he has conferred distinction. To whatever fate Mr Madison may doom this application, I trust it will be treated with delicacy; of this I am more desirous as Mr Alston is ignorant of the step I have taken in writing to you; which perhaps, nothing could excuse but the warmth of filial affection; if it be an error, attribute it to the indiscreet zeal of a daughter whose soul sinks at the gloomy prospect of a long and indefinite separation from a Father almost adored; and who can leave unattempted nothing which offers the slightest hope of procuring him redress. What indeed, would I not risk once more to see him, to hang upon him, to place my child on his knee, and again spend my days in the happy occupation of endeavoring to anticipate his wishes? Let me entreat, my dear madam, that you will have the consideration and goodness to answer me as speedily as possible; my heart is sore with doubt and patient waiting for something definite. No apologies are made for giving you this trouble, which I am sure you will not deem it irksome to take for a daughter, an affectionate daughter thus situated. Inclose your letter for me to A. J. Frederick Prevost, Esq. near New Rochelle, New York.
That every happiness may attend you is the sincere wish of
Theo. Burr Alston
Source: Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809, in Charles Burr Todd, Life of Colonel Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States (New York: S. W. Green, 1879), pp. 134–136.
A Letter from Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809
Rocky River Springs, North Carolina, 24 June 1809
Madam
You may, perhaps, be surprised at receiving a letter from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that my Father, once your Friend, is now in exile; and that the President only can restore him to me & to his country.
Ever since the choice of the people was first declared in favor of Mr Madison; my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the hope that I too should have reason to rejoice. . . . I have determined to address myself to you, & request that you will, in my name, apply to the President for a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron Burr . . .
Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of liberality, and even justice, should yield to consideration of policy; but what policy can require the absence of my Father at present? Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands arraigned; evidently to pursue it any further would now be impossible . . . Why, then, is my Father banished from a country for which he has encountered wounds & dangers & fatigue for years? . . . I do not seek to soften you by this recapitulation . . .
To whatever fate Mr Madison may doom this application, I trust it will be treated with delicacy; of this I am more desirous as Mr Alston is ignorant of the step I have taken in writing to you . . . What indeed, would I not risk once more to see him, to hang upon him, to place my child on his knee, and again spend my days in the happy occupation of endeavoring to anticipate all his wishes?
Theo. Burr Alston
Source: Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809, in Charles Burr Todd, Life of Colonel Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States (New York: S. W. Green, 1879), pp. 134–136.
intercourse - communication
exile - barred from his home country
recapitulation - summary
Background
In 1807 Aaron Burr, former vice president of the United States, was accused of plotting to establish a separate country in the West on land claimed by the United States and Spain. He was charged with treason, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. In disgrace and in fear for his life, he left for Europe. His daughter, Theodosia Alston, wrote letters to political leaders in an effort to secure a smooth return for her father. This letter to Dolley Madison on June 24, 1809, focuses on the friendship between Burr and Madison during the 1790s. After four years in exile, Aaron Burr returned to America in mid-1812. The United States was on the brink of war with Britain and the Burr Conspiracy seemed ancient history.
Transcript
A Letter from Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809
Rocky River Springs, North Carolina, 24 June 1809
Madam
You may, perhaps, be surprised at receiving a letter from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that my Father, once your Friend, is now in exile; and that the President only can restore him to me & to his country. Ever since the choice of the people was first declared in favor of Mr Madison; my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the hope that I too should have reason to rejoice. Convinced that Mr. Madison would neither feel nor judge from the feelings or judgment of others, I had no doubt of his hastening to relieve a man whose character he had been enabled to appreciate during a confidential intercourse of long continuance; and whom he must know incapable of the designs attributed to him. My anxiety on this subject has, however, become too painful to be alleviated by anticipations which no events have yet tended to justify; and in this state of intolerable suspense, I have determined to address myself to you, & request that you will, in my name, apply to the President for a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron Burr; I still expect it from him as a man feeling and candour, as one acting for the world & posterity.
Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of liberality, and even justice, should yield to consideration of policy; but what policy can require the absence of my Father at present? Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands arraigned; evidently to pursue it any further would now be impossible. There is not left one pretext of alarm even to calumny; for, bereft of fortune, of popular favor, & almost of friends, what could he accomplish? And, whatever may be the apprehensions or the clamors of the ignorant & the interested, surely the timid illiberal system which would sacrifice a man to a remote & unreasonable possibility that he might infringe some law, founded on an unjust, unwarrantable suspicion that he would desire it, cannot be approved by Mr Madison, and must be unnecessary to a President so loved, so honoured. Why, then, is my Father banished from a country for which he has encountered wounds & dangers & fatigue for years? Why is he driven from his friends, from an only child, to pass an unlimited time in exile, and that too at an age when others are reaping the harvest of past toils, or ought at least to be providing seriously for the comfort of ensuing years? I do not seek to soften you by this recapitulation. I wish only to remind of all the injuries which are inflicted on one of the first characters the United States ever produced. Perhaps it may be well to assure you there is no truth in a report, lately circulated, that my Father intends returning immediately.
He never will return to conceal himself in a country on which he has conferred distinction. To whatever fate Mr Madison may doom this application, I trust it will be treated with delicacy; of this I am more desirous as Mr Alston is ignorant of the step I have taken in writing to you; which perhaps, nothing could excuse but the warmth of filial affection; if it be an error, attribute it to the indiscreet zeal of a daughter whose soul sinks at the gloomy prospect of a long and indefinite separation from a Father almost adored; and who can leave unattempted nothing which offers the slightest hope of procuring him redress. What indeed, would I not risk once more to see him, to hang upon him, to place my child on his knee, and again spend my days in the happy occupation of endeavoring to anticipate his wishes? Let me entreat, my dear madam, that you will have the consideration and goodness to answer me as speedily as possible; my heart is sore with doubt and patient waiting for something definite. No apologies are made for giving you this trouble, which I am sure you will not deem it irksome to take for a daughter, an affectionate daughter thus situated. Inclose your letter for me to A. J. Frederick Prevost, Esq. near New Rochelle, New York.
That every happiness may attend you is the sincere wish of
Theo. Burr Alston
Source: Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809, in Charles Burr Todd, Life of Colonel Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States (New York: S. W. Green, 1879), pp. 134–136.
Excerpt
A Letter from Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809
Rocky River Springs, North Carolina, 24 June 1809
Madam
You may, perhaps, be surprised at receiving a letter from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that my Father, once your Friend, is now in exile; and that the President only can restore him to me & to his country.
Ever since the choice of the people was first declared in favor of Mr Madison; my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the hope that I too should have reason to rejoice. . . . I have determined to address myself to you, & request that you will, in my name, apply to the President for a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron Burr . . .
Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of liberality, and even justice, should yield to consideration of policy; but what policy can require the absence of my Father at present? Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands arraigned; evidently to pursue it any further would now be impossible . . . Why, then, is my Father banished from a country for which he has encountered wounds & dangers & fatigue for years? . . . I do not seek to soften you by this recapitulation . . .
To whatever fate Mr Madison may doom this application, I trust it will be treated with delicacy; of this I am more desirous as Mr Alston is ignorant of the step I have taken in writing to you . . . What indeed, would I not risk once more to see him, to hang upon him, to place my child on his knee, and again spend my days in the happy occupation of endeavoring to anticipate all his wishes?
Theo. Burr Alston
Source: Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, June 24, 1809, in Charles Burr Todd, Life of Colonel Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States (New York: S. W. Green, 1879), pp. 134–136.
intercourse - communication
exile - barred from his home country
recapitulation - summary
