Alexander Hamilton killed by Vice-President in Duel

Sometimes when two people meet they cannot get passed each other. There is an instant dislike that sets in and does not fade away. This perhaps must have been the case for framers Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. In order to fully understand the gravity of the loss to the nation one must understand what an asset Hamilton was, what he stood for, and what he did.
Alexander Hamilton was a statesman and a respected spokesman. He was the principle writer of the Federalist Papers which advocated for a strong central government. He was born on January 11th, 1755 on the west indian island of Nevis. He was the illegitimate son of a Scottish trader names James Hamilton. His mother Rachel Faucette Levine died when he was 14. His early education was financed by family friends and later he began to pursue a career in law and entered Kings College which is now Columbia University in New York City.
At the outbreak of the Revolution he became a captain of artillery and served with distinction in battle. His courage won him the notice of General George Washington and in 1777 he became his confidential secretary. By 1781 he was still in the Army and fought with distinction at Yorktown.
After the war Hamilton served in Congress briefly then returned to New York to practice law. In 1787 he played a leading role at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1789 he served as Secretary of the Treasury under the new President Washington. In 1795 he turned down an appointment to the Supreme Court.
His troubles with Aaron Burr begin seriously at about 1800. That year Burr runs for president against Thomas Jefferson. The election ends up in a tie. Burr and Jefferson receive the exact number of votes in the Electoral College and so according to article 2, section 2 of the Constitution, The House of Representatives would vote to decide the election. Hamilton used his influence to push hard for Jefferson. Hamilton disliked Burr and had attacked him both publicly and privately for years. Jefferson wins the vote and according to the rules at the time Burr becomes Vice President.
In 1804 Jefferson runs for his second term but Burr fails to win renomination for Vice President. He basically got kicked off the ticket in effect. He attempts to rebound by running for Governor of New york State. Hamilton forcefully opposes him again and Burr fails to win the governorship. In a fit of anger and frustration Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton hated the idea of a duel but felt obligated to accept the challenge likely for fear of being considered a coward if he were to decline. So on July 11th, 1804 on a field in Weehawken, New Jersey, on almost the same spot where Hamilton's oldest son was killed in a duel only 3 years before, it was played out.
Hamilton was gravely wounded straight away but he did not die outright. He lingered on in his death bed falling in and out of conciousness and finally died the next day. The sitting Vice President had killed one of the nations Founding fathers. Hamilton was just 49 years old.
After the incident life for Aaron Burr got harder. He became involved over the years in various schemes that eroded away even more at his reputation. He fell so far that he even was indicted for treason in a scheme that became known as the Burr conspiracy but after a six month trial in 1807 he was acquitted. He went back to New York in 1812 to practice law. In 1833 he married a wealthy widow named Eliza Brown Jumel who was 58 at the time. They divorced within a year. Jumel claimed that he was very financially demanding. He lived for two more years and died on September 14th, 1836 on Staten Island in New york at the age of 80. Nearly 33 years after taking Hamilton's life in that infamous duel.