United States. Many of these same Westerners expressed a willingness to take Spanish territory by force. Meanwhile, Spain also worried about the designs of residents of its own dominion (especially Mexico), recognizing that the unprivileged masses had grown resentful of Spanish authority.

The Burr Conspiracy

Aaron Burr

In this troubled time, the end of President Jefferson's first term, Aaron Burr stepped down from the Vice Presidency, and began preparations for a military expedition that was either--depending upon whose views one solicited--treasonous or patriotic. At its core, however, the Burr Conspiracy clearly was about conquest and adventure.

The Burr Conspiracy had its origins in a series of discussions over the winter of 1804-05 between Burr and his longstanding friend, General James Wilkinson. The two served together in the Quebec campaign of 1775-76. Overthe years they often corresponded in a cipher invented by Wilkinson. Wilkinson was an intriguer of the first-order who had formerly been the head of a party in the West that favored a separation of the western states from the Atlantic states.

Burr left Washington for a tour of the West in March of 1805. His first stop was in Philadelphia, where he met with Anthony Merry, the British Minister to the United States. Merry reported details of his conversation in a letter to London:

"I am encouraged to report to your Lordship the substance of some secret communications which [Burr] has sought to make to me since he has been out of office...Mr. Burr has mentioned to me that the inhabitants of Louisiana [the lands recently purchased from France]