don't really understand why are people are saying he murdered Hamilton. They were in a duel after all?
Hamilton did fire his weapon intentionally, and he fired first. But he aimed to miss Burr, sending his ball into the tree above and behind Burr's location. In so doing, he did not withhold his shot, but he did waste it, thereby honoring his pre-duel pledge. Meanwhile, Burr, who did not know about the pledge, did know that a projectile from Hamilton's gun had whizzed past him and crashed into the tree to his rear. According to the principles of the code duello, Burr was perfectly justified in taking deadly aim at Hamilton and firing to kill.
But did he? What is possible, but beyond the reach of the available evidence, is that Burr really missed his target, too, that his own fatal shot, in fact, was accidental
hamilto shot first, burr was fully justified in shooting.
Regardless of whether it was murder, he found it appropriate to slay one of America's greatest heroes, throwing America to the agrarian dogs and small-minded men. Burr, meanwhile, lived on to commit treason--by my recollection--twice in the following decade or so.
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