After the death of Hamilton the feeling against Burr in the city was
bitter indeed, and he soon went away.

A few years later, when a project was formed for establishing a great
empire in the southwest and overthrowing the United States, this same
Aaron Burr was thought to be concerned in the plot. When, after a trial,
he was acquitted, he went to live in Europe. But he returned after a
time, and the last years of his life were passed in New York.




CHAPTER XXXV

ROBERT FULTON BUILDS a STEAM-BOAT


There had come to be a great need for schools. There were private
schools and there were school-rooms attached to some of the churches,
but it was in this year, 1805, that the first steps were taken to have
free schools for all.

A kindly man named De Witt Clinton was Mayor of the city, and he, with
some other citizens, organized the Free School Society that was to
provide an education for every child. The following year the first free
school was opened. The society continued in force for forty-eight years,
each year the number of its schools increasing, until finally all its
property was turned over to the city.