This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is our American stories.

And our next story, well, it's a bit of American history.

It's the story of Aaron Burr.

And you know him, perhaps, from your high school American history classes, what little you may

remember from them. Or maybe from the Broadway musical, Hamilton. But who was Aaron Burr? Well,

Bill Breck is here to tell us a little bit more about the often reviled politician.

Here's Bill.

Lynn Manuel Miranda, in his extraordinary Hamilton, an American musical,

brilliantly captures Aaron Burr in three lines.

The free advice he has Burr offer to Alexander

Hamilton when they first meet in 1776. Talk less. Smile more. Don't let them know what you're

against or what you're for. Around twilight on June 7th, 1812, a 56-year-old man returned from six years self-imposed

European exile. He landed New York, somewhere near today's South Street seaport. He hastened to a

friend's house at 66 Water Street only to find no one at home.

Only around midnight did he find a room, already occupied by five other men,

in a plain house along a dark alley.

In the morning, he returned to find his friend Samuel Swartout at home,

and after an affectionate welcome, the Swartout brothers lodged him.

The charm that had borne burrup throughout his life remained potent. A boyhood friend and long-time

political opponent, Robert Troop, lent him $10 in a law library. Then, $10 was real money.

Then, as now, a law library is essential to one's practice.

...