William Levitt

Levitt subsequently lost much of his wealth in unsuccessful investments. Burr by Gore Vidal is an oblique biographical take on the politician, but it should be taken as historical fiction. Levitt & Sons was sold to ITT International Telephone & Telegraph in 1968 for a reported $90 million. Late in life, Burr sometimes went by Aaron Edwards (his mother's maiden name) because it was less associated with past scandals. In 1959 the community was annexed by Bowie. John Quincy Adams said after the former Vice President's death, "Burr's life, take it all together, was such as in any country of sound morals his friends would be desirous of burying in quiet oblivion.". In 1957 they acquired the historic Belair estate, home of Maryland's colonial Governor Samuel Ogle and his famous Belair Stables. He was profligate in his personal finances, and gave lip service to abolitionism even as he bought and sold slaves.

During the late 1950s, Levitt and Sons also developed the commmuity known as "Belair at Bowie," in Bowie, Maryland. He once said he considered it an honor if a woman claimed him as the father of her child, even if the claim were false. Levittown, Puerto Rico, built in the 1960s, was also one of Levitt's projects. When his first wife died, Burr lost any stabilizing influence he had in life and his character took a marked turn for the worse. A third Levittown of 12,000 houses was built in southern New Jersey, although it has since reverted to its former name of Willingboro to avoid confusion with the neighboring Levittown community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Although he proved irresistible to many women, few historians doubt Burr’s devotion to his first wife and daughter, while they lived. Levitt went on to plan and build another 17,000 home Levittown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which saw its first residents in 1952. Burr could be unscrupulous, insincere, devious and amoral, but towards his friends he was pleasing in his manners and generous to a fault.

Levittown, New York eventually grew to over 17,000 houses. He noted with pleasure: "What was treason in me thirty years ago, is patriotism now.". The residents would come to be known as Levittowners. He maintained an interest in Western expansion until his death, and lived to see the Texas Revolution. Houses sold for under $7000, a low price even by 1947 standards. Burr lived in New York as a moderately successful attorney until his death in a Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York hotel in 1836. Residents started moving into Levittown, New York in 1947. He returned quietly to New York in 1812, intending to visit his daughter, but the ship she had been traveling on from South Carolina was lost at sea (either due to piracy or shipwreck), along with all of Burr's important papers.

The result was high-quality, nearly identical houses that were built for subtantially less than what they would have normally cost. He had numerous affairs. Other construction groups would work in the same manner, adding their part to the house lot by lot. He was ordered out of England and Napoleon Bonaparte refused to receive him. The slab laying group would go down the street laying concrete slabs for house after house, 60 feet apart. He tried to secure aid in the prosecution of his filibustering schemes but was met with numerous rebuffs. Groups of workers would descend on a new, empty street. He lived abroad from 1808 to 1812, passing most of his time in England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden and France.

In Levitt's home-building assembly line, the product (houses) obviously could not move. By this point all of Burr's hopes for a political comeback had been dashed, and he fled America and his creditors for Europe, where he tried to regain his fortunes. In normal assembly lines, the workers stay stationary and the product moves down the line. Immediately afterwards, he was tried on a more appropriate misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted on a technicality. Levitt's innovation in creating this planned community was to build the houses in the manner of an assembly line. Due to lack of the constitutionally-required two witnesses, Burr was acquitted on September 1, in spite of the fact that the full force of the political influence of the Jefferson administration had been thrown against him. The Company named it Levittown. His trial, presided over by Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall, began August 3.

Levitt & Sons chose an area known as Island Trees near Hempstead, Long Island as the site for its huge building project after the war. Burr was arraigned four times for treason before a grand jury; the fourth time, May 22, sufficient evidence was found to indict him. After returning from the war, during which he served in the Navy as a lieutenant in the Seabees, William Levitt saw a need for affordable housing for the returning veterans. His defense lawyers were John Wickham and Luther Martin. Prior to World War II, Levitt & Sons built mostly upscale housing in and around Long Island, New York. In 1807, on a charge of treason, Burr was brought to trial before the United States circuit court at Richmond, Virginia. Design duties were handled by William's brother Alfred. But Jefferson sought the highest charges against his former lieutenant, even though his informant Wilkinson was notoriously corrupt.

As President of Levitt & Sons, the real-estate development company founded by his father Abraham Levitt near the start of the Great Depression, William Levitt oversaw all aspects of the company but design of the homes they built. This seems to have been a misdemeanor, based on the Neutrality Act passed to block filibuster expeditions like those questionable enterprises of George Rogers Clark and William Blount. . It had been, it would seem, to secure money and to conceal his real designs, which were probably to overthrow Spanish power in the Southwest, and perhaps to found an imperial dynasty in Mexico. He certainly did not invent the building of communities of affordable single-family homes within driving distance of major areas of employment; yet his innovations in providing affordable housing popularized this type of planned community in the years following World War II. Burr's secret correspondence with Anthony Merry and the Marquis of Casa Yrujo, the British and Spanish ministers at Washington, was eventually revealed. William Jaird Levitt (February 11, 1907 - January 28, 1994), is the real-estate developer widely credited as the father of modern American suburbia. He turned himself in to the Federal authorities, but soon jumped bail and fled for Spanish Florida; he was intercepted in Alabama on February 19, 1807.

He has too much to do." (1948). Burr read this in a newspaper in the Orleans Territory on January 10, 1807. "No man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist. Jefferson's passivity throughout most of 1806 remains baffling to this day, but he finally issued a proclamation for Burr's arrest. After a near-incident with Spanish forces at Natchitoches, Wilkinson decided he could best serve his conflicting interests by betraying Burr's plans to President Jefferson — and his Spanish paymasters. His expedition of perhaps eighty men carried modest arms for hunting, and no war materiel ever came to light, even when Blennerhassett Island was seized by Ohio militia.

In case of a war declaration, Andrew Jackson stood ready to help Colonel Burr, who had purchased land shares from the Bastrop Grant in Texas. troops on the Louisiana border. Burr may have anticipated a war with Spain, a distinct possibility had someone other than Wilkinson commanded U.S. It was there that he met Burr and agreed to help finance the imperial ambitions of Burr's group.

He came to live as a quasi-feudal lord, owning an island now bearing his name on the Ohio River. After marrying his niece, Blennerhassett had been forced out of Ireland. Another member of the Burr conspiracy was the Anglo-Irish aristocrat Harman Blennerhassett. Burr enlisted Wilkinson and others to his plan in a reconnaissance mission to the West in April 1805.

As territorial governor of Louisiana, he could have seized power for himself, as he had attempted in earlier plots in Kentucky. General James Wilkinson, a conspirator secretly in the pay of the Kingdom of Spain, had his own reasons for aiding the so-called Burr conspiracy. Had he suceeded, the United States could have fallen into a full-scale civil war. Burr's detractors claim that it was his dream to create a Latin American empire that could control much of the farms and commerce of North America.

Burr was to have been the leader of this Southwestern republic. At its grandest, the plan may have been for Burr to make a massive new nation in the west, forged from conquered provinces of Mexico and territory west of the Appalachian Mountains. There he met Jonathan Dayton, with whom he is alleged to have formed a conspiracy, the goal of which is still somewhat unclear. After the expiration of his term as Vice President on March 4, 1805, broken in fortune and virtually an exile from New York and New Jersey, Burr fled to Philadelphia.

He presided over the Samuel Chase impeachment trial with the "impartiality of an angel and the rigor of a devil." Aaron Burr's heartfelt farewell speech in March 1805 moved some of his harshest critics in the Senate to tears. to complete his term of service as Vice President. He escaped to South Carolina, where his daughter lived with her family, but soon returned to Washington, D.C. His response: "Contemptible, if true." Burr was later charged with murder in New York and New Jersey, but was never tried in either jurisdiction.

Burr later learned that Hamilton intended to hold his fire during the duel. Some have debated who fired first; Hamilton's shot went upward and to Burr's right, striking a tree branch. The bullet entered Hamilton's abdomen above his right hip, and he died the following day. On July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr shot and fatally wounded Hamilton in their duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

The two would nevertheless use the same pistols owned by Hamilton's brother-in-law, which are now preserved by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Hamilton had also developed some religious scruples against dueling. Both men had been involved in duels in the past, usually on the periphery, but Hamilton had particular qualms because his beloved son, Philip, had rashly entered into a fatal duel in 1802. Hamilton accepted, and as the challenged party chose to settle the matter of honor with pistols at ten paces.

Burr responded by challenging Hamilton to personal combat under the code duello, the formalized but largely antiquated rules of dueling. Burr demanded that Hamilton recant or deny everything he had ever said regarding Burr’s character, but Hamilton, having already been disgraced by the Maria Reynolds scandal, could not afford to make this gesture. Hamilton had written so many letters, and made so many private tirades against Burr, that he could not reliably comment on Cooper's vaguely-worded statement. Cooper circulated in a local newspaper, Burr sought an explanation from his erstwhile friend.

Charles D. After a letter regarding the incident written by Dr. Novelist Gore Vidal speculated Hamilton might have accused Burr of having an incestuous relationship with his beautiful daughter Theodosia, but most historians discount this as fiction. But Hamilton exceeded himself at one political dinner, where he expressed a "still more despicable opinion" of Burr.

Alexander Hamilton also opposed Burr, due to his belief (still controversial) that Burr had entertained a Federalist secession movement in New York. Burr lost the election largely due to a personal smear campaign orchestrated by his own party rivals, the Clintons of New York. When it became clear that Jefferson would drop Burr from his ticket in the 1804 election, the Vice President ran for the governorship of New York instead. However, Burr's refusal to yield the victory to Jefferson, as he had promised, cost him the trust of his own party and that of Jefferson: for the rest of the administration, Burr remained an outsider.

His fair and judicial manner as president of the Senate, recognized even by his bitterest enemies, fostered traditions in regard to that position. Upon confirmation of Jefferson’s election, Burr became Vice President of the United States. Federalist abstentions in the Vermont and Maryland delegations led to Jefferson's election as President, and Burr’s moderate Federalist supporters conceded his defeat. Bayard, a Delaware Federalist, submitted a blank vote.

Ultimately, the election devolved to the point where it took three days and 36 ballots before James A. The attempts of a powerful faction among the Federalists to secure the election of Burr failed, partly because of the opposition of Alexander Hamilton and partly, it would seem, because Burr himself did little to obtain votes in his own favor. Constitution, the responsibility for the final choice was thrown upon the House of Representatives. It was well understood that the party intended that Jefferson should be President and Burr Vice President, but owing to a defect (later remedied) in the U.S.

Though Jefferson did win New York and the election, so did Burr; they tied with 73 electoral votes each. Electoral College, and New York was crucial to Jefferson. At the time, state legislatures chose the members of the U.S. Because of his control of the crucial New York legislature, Burr was placed on the Democratic-Republican presidential ticket in the 1800 election with Thomas Jefferson.

Talleyrand had been an ardent admirer of Alexander Hamilton. Later, when Burr fled the United States after the Hamilton duel and treason trial, Talleyrand refused him entrance into France. During the French Revolution, French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, in need of sanctuary to escape the Terror, stayed in Burr's home in New York City. Burr quickly became a key player in New York politics, more powerful in time than Hamilton, largely because of the Tammany Society, later to become the infamous Tammany Hall, which Burr converted from a social club into a political machine.

Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey. Burr loosely associated himself with the Democratic-Republicans, though he had moderate Federalist allies, such as Sen. During John Adams's term as President, national parties became clearly defined. Burr was not reelected to the Senate in 1797, and instead went into the New York state legislature, serving from 1798 through 1801.

Washington wrote, "By all that I have known and heard, Colonel Burr is a brave and able officer, but the question is whether he has not equal talents at intrigue?" Burr later told Hamilton that "he despised Washington as a man of no talents and one who could not spell a sentence of common English.". After being appointed commanding general of American forces by President John Adams in 1798, Washington turned down Burr's application for a brigadier general's commission during the Quasi-war with France. Washington also passed over Burr for the ministry to France. He sought to write an official Revolutionary history, but Washington blocked Burr's access to the archives, possibly because the former colonel had been a noted critic of his leadership, and because he regarded Burr as a schemer.

Senator, Burr continued to fall from grace in President George Washington's eyes. As a U.S. Nevertheless, Hamilton masked his dislike of Burr for a decade, remaining outwardly friendly toward his rival. Hamilton felt Burr’s victory to be tantamount to betrayal, although some have argued that Burr did not seek the senatorial nomination.

Although Hamilton and Burr had long been on good personal terms, often dining with one another, Burr's defeat of General Schuyler marks the beginning of their personal quarrel. Whether he did this to thwart Hamilton may never be known. It is believed that Burr introduced her to James Madison, whom she subseqently married. Her daughter Dolley, an attractive young widow, was being squired by, among others, Hamilton.

Payne. They both roomed for a time at the boarding house of a Mrs. While Burr and Jefferson served during the Washington administration, the Federal Government was resident in Philadelphia. He was commissioner of Revolutionary War claims in 1791, and that same year he defeated a favored candidate -- Alexander Hamilton's father-in-law, General Philip Schuyler -- for a seat in the United States Senate, and served in the upper house of the US Congress until 1797.

He served in the New York State Assembly from 1784 to 1785, but Burr became seriously involved in politics in 1789, when George Clinton appointed him Attorney General of New York. Burr's main rival for dominance of the New York bar was Alexander Hamilton. Those papers were served to Burr on his deathbed by Alexander Hamilton's elder son, whose father Burr killed in a famous duel, an irony which was surely not lost on the younger Hamilton. During the month of their first anniversary, she sued for divorce, citing infidelity, and it was granted on the day of his death.

When she realized her fortune was dwindling from her husband's land speculation, they separated after only four months. In 1833, at age 77, Burr married again, this time to Eliza Bowen Jumel, the extremely wealthy widow of Stephen Jumel. Aaron Burr and his first wife were married for twelve years, until her death from cancer. She married Joseph Alston of South Carolina in 1801, and died either due to piracy or in a shipwreck off the Carolinas in the winter of 1812 or early 1813.

While their younger daughter, Sarah, died at age three, their older daughter Theodosia Burr, born in 1783, became widely known for her beauty and accomplishments. They had two daughters. That same year, Burr married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, the widow of a British army officer who had died in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War. Burr was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1782, and began to practice in New York City after its evacuation by the British in the following year.

Clair, and he rallied a group of Yale students at New Haven when Benedict Arnold, by then a traitor, led a British assault in 1780. Burr did perform occasional intelligence missions for Continental generals such as Arthur St. He resigned from the Continental Army in March 1779 on account of ill health, renewing his study of law. Burr established a thorough patrol system, rigorously enforced martial law, and quickly restored order.

In this district there was much turbulence and plundering by the lawless elements of both Whigs and Tories, and by bands of ill-disciplined soldiers from both armies. In January 1779, Burr was assigned to the command of the lines of Westchester County, a region between the British post at Kingsbridge and that of the Americans about 15 miles to the north. The Malcolms were decimated by British artillery, and Burr suffered a stroke in the terrible heat from which he would never quite recover. In the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), he commanded the Malcolms, a brigade in Lord Stirling's division.

During the harsh winter encampment at Valley Forge he guarded the Gulf, a pass commanding the approach to the camp, and necessarily the first point that would be attacked. On becoming lieutenant colonel in July 1777, Burr assumed the command of a regiment. Alexander Hamilton was an officer of this group. Nevertheless, Israel Putnam took Burr under his wing, and by his vigilance in the retreat from Long Island Burr saved an entire brigade from capture.

Burr's courage earned him a place on George Washington's staff, but the general, reportedly, never quite trusted Major Burr. Burr is said to have carried the fallen Montgomery for a short distance during the retreat from Quebec. Benedict Arnold's expedition into Canada in 1775, and on arriving before the Battle of Quebec, he disguised himself as a Roman Catholic priest, making a dangerous journey of 120 miles to Montreal through British lines to notify General Richard Montgomery of Arnold's arrival. During the American Revolutionary War, Burr accompanied Gen.

Benedict Arnold, George Washington and Israel Putnam. His studies were put on hold while he served during the Revolutionary War, under Gens. He originally studied theology, but abandoned it two years later and began the study of law in the celebrated law school conducted by his brother-in-law, Tapping Reeve, at Litchfield, Connecticut. Aaron Burr, Sr., who was the second president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University; his mother Esther Edwards was the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the famous Calvinist theologian.

Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, to the Rev. . He is remembered not so much for his tenure as the third Vice President, under Thomas Jefferson, as for his duel with Alexander Hamilton and his trial and acquittal on charges of treason. He was a major formative member of the Democratic-Republican party in New York and a strong supporter of Governor George Clinton.

Aaron Burr, Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and adventurer. (For a slightly fictionalized view of Burr's life during and after the American Revolution). New York. Vidal, Gore, "Burr".

(For the traditional view of Burr's conspiracy.). New York, 1890. iii. Adams, Henry, History of the United States, vol.

Jenkinson, Aaron Burr, Richmond, Indiana, 1902. I. McCaleb, W.F., The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, New York, 1903. (2 vols.).

Parton, James, The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, Boston and New York, 1898. New York, 1979, 1983. Lomask, Milton, "Aaron Burr," 2 Vols. This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain..

2. 1, Vol. Full text of Memoirs of Aaron Burr from Project Gutenberg: Vol.