Aaron Burr: Farewell Address to the U.S. Senate

( ca. 1805 ) Commentary by Kirk H. Beetz, UC Davis, Emeritus

“But he [Burr] challenged their [the senators'] attention to considerations more momentous than any which regarded merely their personal honor and character: the preservation of the Law, of Liberty and the Constitution—this house, said he, is a sanctuary and a citadel of law, of order, of liberty—and it is here—it is here—in this exalted refuge—here, if any where will resistance be made to the storms of popular phrenzy and the silent arts of corruption:—and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the Demagogue or the Usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor.” - Farewell Address to the U.S. Senate

Aaron Burr (Library of Congress)

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