Aaron Burr was disgraced and politically ruined when, as Vice President of the US, he killed Alexander Hamilton in an illegal duel. Subsequently, Burr conspired to seize territory in the Southwest and declare himself Emperor of the country he planned to establish there. Burr's co-conspirator, James Wilkinson, Governor of Northern Louisiana Territory and Commander-in-Chief of the US Army, betrayed him. Authorities then captured Burr and tried him for treason. Acquitted on a technicality, Burr Fled to Europe. Burr was never a Freemason; however, in their frenzy of persecution following the Morgan Affair, anti-Masons not only claimed Burr was a member of the fraternity, but also insisted he used the Royal Arch cipher as a coded method of communicating with his co-conspirators.
