Aaron Burr acquitted of charge of treason

On this day in 1807, the treason trial of Aaron Burr, former vice president of the United States and a minor player in Texas history, came to a characteristically ambiguous ending. After leaving the vice presidency in 1804, Burr made a tour of the western states and became leader of a conspiracy supposed to have been aimed toward an invasion of Texas. He was arrested for treason and, after a prolonged trial, Justice John Marshall ruled that while Burr was not guilty of treason, he was guilty of contemplating an invasion of Spanish territory. Burr's exact intentions have never been ascertained, but they probably included crossing the Sabine River and marching across Texas.