Boxes and Lines

Boxes and Lines


The Blurring of Burr: Warring Founding Fathers, Treason, and Romance Novels

January 17, 2023

IEX's Jayme Abrahamsen and former Greenlight Capital partner and CEO and founder of Freedom's Edge Cider Andy Kaplan return to the podcast this week for a continuation of their conversation about our cultural fascination with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. This episode looks specifically at Burr, a one-time rising political star and U.S. vice president who by the end of his life was exiled to Paris and eating from garbage cans. Our guest hosts look at the blurring of Burr’s legacy over time, the re-writing of his history from dubious sources like Thomas Jefferson and Hamilton (who were his enemies), our modern need to view the founding fathers as emblems of power and unification (and the impact this had on U.S. currency) and why we've gotten so much wrong about Burr over the years. Recorded on November 30, 2022.