They didn’t call it lawfare in 1807, but the president’s use of federal prosecution to settle political scores had already begun. As President Donald Trump ramps up efforts to prosecute his political opponents, one early such episode — the treason trial of Aaron Burr — is worth revisiting. Though Trump’s personalized lawfare has historical precedent, the modern presidency probably makes the practice more destructive than it was before.

Thomas Jefferson soured on Burr after the presidential election of 1800. Though Burr agreed to run as Jefferson’s vice president, voters in the first U.S. elections cast ballots for individual candidates rather than the president and vice president together. Jefferson and Burr each ended up with 73 electoral votes, meaning that the House of Representatives had to break the tie. Burr remained a candidate until the House voted, and Jefferson suspected Burr wanted to steal the presidency amid Congress’s horse-trading.

That didn’t happen. Burr became vice president, but Jefferson held a grudge. Burr’s famous duel with Alexander Hamilton came toward the end of his time as Jefferson’s No. 2, in 1804. After Burr left office, he was politically unpopular and formed (or half-formed) still-nebulous plans to lead a settlement or militia out West.

Jefferson went after Burr in his second term. In January 1807, the........

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