would you mind expanding on the “burr had a imaginary secret wife” thing because I feel like this is important burr info I’m missing out on

madtomedgar:

YES

ok

so

THE SAGA

When Burr was around 17-19 (this is according to Isenburg so it might not have played out like she made it sound) and was living with a preacher’s family in Connecticut studying to be a preacher, one day somebody congratulated him on getting married. It confused him because, as he tried to explain, he wasn’t married. They basically assured him that his secret was safe, refused to believe his denials, and then continued to spread the rumor that tiny Burr had secretly married a very pretty very rich lady. The rumor got a lot of traction, and it seemed like no matter what he did he couldn’t convince people that it wasn’t true. It got so bad that some dude actually tried to duel him for the alleged Mrs. Burr’s honor, because they thought the lady needed defending from a husband who would so insult her by denying her existence. Thankfully the war broke out and then everyone had more important things to deal with than Aaron Burr’s imaginary secret wife.