Background

Justus Bollmann was born in 1769, in Hoya, Hanover, Germany.

Education

Bollmann studied medicine at Göttingen.

Career

Bollmann practised medicine for a time in Karlsruhe and Paris. From the latter city in 1792 he fled to London and later went to Vienna for the purpose of locating and freeing Lafayette, who was then confined at Olmütz. He was assisted by F. K. Huger, a young American from South Carolina. Lafayette escaped but was recaptured and Bollman himself spent several months in prison. He was released on condition that he leave Austria. In 1796 he came to America where his attempted rescue of Lafayette assured him a cordial reception, and when after some years he failed in business, Jefferson, of whose friendship he seemed disposed to take advantage, offered him in succession the consulate at Rotterdam, the commercial agency at Santo Domingo, and the Indian agency at Natchitoches, Louisiana. The tender of the last-named position occurred in the latter part of 1805.

Shortly afterward Bollmann became a confidential agent of Burr and as such attempted to interest prospective settlers in the settling of the Bastrop land grant. He was entrusted with a copy of Burr's famous cipher letter, which, in December 1806, he delivered to Gen. Wilkinson at New Orleans. Shortly afterward he was arrested by military authority along with his fellow messenger, Samuel Swartwout, and hurried off by sea to Washington, where they were brought before the district court and, on the evidence afforded by Wilkinson's version of the cipher letter and Eaton's deposition, were remanded to prison. On a writ of habeas corpus they were brought before the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Marshall, in reviewing their case, laid down some of the principles that afterward guided him in defining "treason" at the Burr trial. The hearing attracted wide attention and influenced the discussion then going on in Congress over the proposal to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. The prisoners were released and were then and later recipients of many attentions from those who did not favor the arbitrary policy of the administration.

On January 23, 1807, Bollmann secured a personal interview with Jefferson, at which Madison was present, and gave in detail the plans of Burr, which he claimed were in no way directed against the interests of the United States. Later at the request of the president and on the latter's assurance that this testimony should be kept inviolate, he committed his statements to writing. This document was given to George Hay, the district attorney who conducted the prosecution against Burr, and was produced in the court room at Richmond, together with a pardon for Bollmann, when the latter was called as a witness. Bollmann refused the pardon which would have been a virtual admission of guilt and his testimony was not unfavorable to Burr. The collapse of the case against the latter saved Bollman from any serious consequences. Later he was the author of some pamphlets dealing with the banking system of the United States between 1810 and 1816. After that date he resided for some years in London where he likewise wrote on the banking system of England and engaged in an extended discussion of Ricardo's theories. He died in Jamaica.

Achievements

• Justus Bollmann was famous through his involvement in a failed attempt to rescue the Marquis de Lafayette from detention in Olmütz. In the United States, he also was involved in the Burr conspiracy.

Works

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  • A letter to Thomas Brand ... on the practicability and propriety of a resumption of specie payments Volume 2

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  • Paragraphs on Banks

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  • A second letter to ... Thomas Brand ... in which doubts are suggested on the practicability of the new system of bullion-payments Volume 3

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