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Dalton News
Dr. Antonio Burr Visits Class to Share Research on Relative Aaron Burr and Hamilton
Dr. Antonio Burr, a forensic psychologist, historian and distant relative of infamous founding father Aaron Burr, paid a visit to Dalton to speak to a small high school class of Hamilton history enthusiasts this week. The independent-study course took shape when High School History teacher Yom Fox discovered she shared a common interest and historical curiosity with students to deeply examine the history and making of the hit Broadway show Hamilton.
According to Ms. Fox, Dr. Burr discussed the intersection between his family history and the discipline of forensic psychology. He shared that most historical accounts portray the founding father as a murderous villain, but in Dr. Burr's research, his relative had a much more complex psychological profile. According to his examination of primary sources, the duel that resulted in Hamilton's death was only a tiny piece of who Burr was. While Dr. Burr viewed the Broadway portrayal of his relative as favorable on the whole, he did take issue with the depiction of Burr as a sentimentalist. On the contrary, he found that his distant relation was more, in Ms. Fox's words, "an archetypal model for today's politicians," methodically and carefully weighing his options before making any short or long-term political decisions.
Dr. Burr further theorized that it is the lack of documentation that sustains the dominant view of Burr. One reason for the lack of documentation was that Thomas Jefferson prevented Burr, his vice president but sworn enemy, from accessing the National Archives to conduct research for his potentially embarrassing tell-all book about the Revolutionary War and the founders. In an added blow to the founding father's legacy, Burr sent his daughter, and his memoirs across the ocean, to be lost at sea.
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