correction on first president that invoked the insurrection act, I had the dates wrong when I posted on last bread. Jefferson was first president to invoke the codified law of the insurrection act, all other presidents made a proclamation, including him for Aaron Burr. Jefferson made his proclamation based on the constitution that he helped to write
Armed with Wilkenson’s “proof,” Jefferson issued a proclamation on November 27, 1806 that laid out the plot and enjoined all military officers, both state and federal, to “to be vigilant… in searching out and bringing to condign punishment all persons engaged or concerned in such enterprise, in seizing and detaining, subject to the disposition of the law, all vessels, arms, military stores, or other means provided or providing for the same, and, in general, in preventing the carrying on such expedition or enterprise by all lawful means within their power.”
Aaron Burr, the Insurrection Act
Aaron Burr
MPI/Getty Images
“Jefferson essentially puts a bounty on Burr’s head,” says Fea, and within weeks, an Ohio militia seized boats belonging to Burr’s ragtag army and raided a private island on the Ohio River that served as a military encampment.
But Burr evaded capture and rumors continued to swirl that he was recruiting soldiers en route to the Louisiana Territory and soliciting help from Britain to establish his spinoff nation in the West. Jefferson still refused to deploy the standing U.S. Army to track down Burr and quash the rebellion once and for all, a reticence that was mocked by his political enemies, the Federalists.
“Jefferson, to his credit, says I’m not going to act unless the Constitution says I can act,” says Fea. “The Federalists take a much broader view of the Constitution. If the Constitution doesn’t outright condemn it, then it’s OK.”
Jefferson stuck to his principles and in December of 1806 asked Congress to pass a bill “authorising the emploiment of the land or Naval forces of the US. in cases of insurrection.” This legislation, known as the Insurrection Act, would take another three months to become law. When it was finally signed on March 3, 1807, Aaron Burr had already been in custody for 11 days.
So while the Insurrection Act was written expressly to foil Burr’s plot, it wasn’t used to capture him. The very first time the Insurrection Act was actually invoked was a year later in 1808, when American merchant ships in the Great Lakes flouted Jefferson’s trade embargo with the British. In response, Jefferson accused the rogue traders of “forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States” and authorized the military to take action.