From first to last the Chief Justice made the task of the prosecution exceedingly difficult by a rigorous definition of treason. Treason involved an overt act, he insisted; the actual levying of war by an assembling of armed men. To convict of treason, the testimony of two witnesses was required by the Constitution. Now, Burr was hundreds of miles away from Blennerhassett's Island when the alleged overt act of treason was committed. The court would not admit any testimony relative to the conduct and declarations of Burr elsewhere and subsequent to the transactions on Blennerhassett's Island. Such testimony was in its nature merely corroborative, the Chief Justice ruled, and inadequate to prove the overt act in itself, and therefore irrelevant until the overt act was proved by the testimony of two witnesses. On September 1, the prosecution abandoned the case, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The Government now sought to secure the conviction of Burr on the charge of misdemeanor; but less than a week was needed to reveal the weakness of the testimony put forward by the prosecution. On September 15, Burr was again acquitted. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The New England conspiracy, the Yazoo controversy, and the intrigues of Burr, are admirably recounted by Henry Adams. His account may be corrected at various points, however, by consulting W. F. McCaleb, _The Aaron Burr Conspiracy_ (1903). A brief account of the intrigues and plots of this time may be found in Channing, _The Jeffersonian System, 1801-1811_ (1906). The intrigues of the Federalists in New England have been described recently with new information by S. E. Morison, _Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis_ (2 vols., 1913). Other biographies of importance are H. C. Lodge, _Life and Letters of George Cabot_ (1877); James Parton, _Life and Times of Aaron Burr_ (1858); J. S. Bassett, _Life of Andrew Jackson_ (2 vols., 1911). The trial of Burr is described in popular fashion by F. T. Hill, _Decisive Battles of the Law_ (1907). The origin and subsequent history of the Yazoo affair may be traced in C. H. Haskins, "The Yazoo Land Companies" (in the _American Historical Association Papers_, 1891). CHAPTER X PEACEABLE COERCION