(Source: OUP)
Oxford
University Press is publishing a book on the law of treason during the American
Revolution.
ABOUT THE
BOOK
The Trials of Allegiance examines the law of treason
during the American Revolution: a convulsive, violent civil war in which nearly
everyone could be considered a traitor, either to Great Britain or to America.
Drawing from extensive archival research in Pennsylvania, one of the main centers of the revolution, Carlton Larson provides the most comprehensive analysis yet of the treason prosecutions brought by Americans against British adherents: through committees of safety, military tribunals, and ordinary criminal trials. Although popular rhetoric against traitors was pervasive in Pennsylvania, jurors consistently viewed treason defendants not as incorrigibly evil, but as fellow Americans who had made a political mistake. This book explains the repeated and violently controversial pattern of acquittals. Juries were carefully selected in ways that benefited the defendants, and jurors refused to accept the death penalty as an appropriate punishment for treason. The American Revolution, unlike many others, would not be enforced with the gallows.
Drawing from extensive archival research in Pennsylvania, one of the main centers of the revolution, Carlton Larson provides the most comprehensive analysis yet of the treason prosecutions brought by Americans against British adherents: through committees of safety, military tribunals, and ordinary criminal trials. Although popular rhetoric against traitors was pervasive in Pennsylvania, jurors consistently viewed treason defendants not as incorrigibly evil, but as fellow Americans who had made a political mistake. This book explains the repeated and violently controversial pattern of acquittals. Juries were carefully selected in ways that benefited the defendants, and jurors refused to accept the death penalty as an appropriate punishment for treason. The American Revolution, unlike many others, would not be enforced with the gallows.
More broadly, Larson explores how the Revolution's treason trials shaped American national identity and perceptions of national allegiance. He concludes with the adoption of the Treason Clause of the United States Constitution, which was immediately put to use in the early 1790s in response to the Whiskey Rebellion and Fries's Rebellion.
In taking a fresh look at these formative events, The Trials of Allegiance reframes how we think about treason in American history, up to and including the present.
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Carlton F.W. Larson is Professor of Law at the
University of California, Davis School of Law.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Treason in Colonial Pennsylvania
The Adoption of English Treason Law
Pennsylvania's Earliest Treason Cases
The Outbreak of War
The Disputes with Virginia and Connecticut
2. Resistance and Treason, 1765-1775
Justifying Resistance
A Jury of One's Peers
Identifying the Real Traitors
3. Treason Against America, 1775-1776
The War's First Treason Charges
The Second Round of Treason Charges
County Committees of Safety
Denunciation of Enemies
The British Legal Response to the Rebels
Independence
4. From Independence to Invasion, 1776-1778
The Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention and the Treason Ordinance
The Council of Safety and the County Committees
Enactment of a Treason Statute
The Case of James Molesworth and the Scope of Military Jurisdiction
The Test Act
Re-Opening the Courts
The Exiles to Virginia
The Fall of Philadelphia and Military Trials
5. The Winding Path to the Courthouse, 1778
Prosecutions in the County Courts
The Attainder Statute and Property Forfeitures
Chief Justice Thomas McKean and the Re-Opening of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Special Commission for Bedford County
The Return to Philadelphia
Hiring Prosecutors and Court Employees
The Chester County Treason Trials
6. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778-1779: Forming the Jury
The Grand Jurors
Trial Juror Selection: The Panel and Challenges
Trial Juror Demographics
Trial Juror Political Activity
7. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778-1779: Trial and Deliberation
Defendant Demographics and Political Activity
Defense Counsel
Charges and Defenses
Trial Witnesses
Evidentiary Objections
Jury Deliberations
The Death Penalty
8. Resentment and Betrayal, 1779-1781
The Newspaper Debates over the Franks Trial
The Trial of Samuel Rowland Fisher
Fort Wilson
Modifications to Pennsylvania's Treason Law
The Battle Over Detentions
Misprision of Treason Cases before the Justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Benedict Arnold
The Aftermath: The Executions of David Dawson and Ralph Morden
The Berks County Tax Revolt
The Trials of Justin McCarty and Samuel Chapman
9. Peace, the Constitution, and Rebellion, 1781-1800
Treason Prosecutions after Yorktown
Treason Cases: Summary Data
The Escaping Prisoners Cases
The Returning Loyalists
The Continuing Threat of Internal Dismemberment
Treason and the United States Constitution
The Status of State Treason Law
The Whiskey Rebellion
Fries's Rebellion
Conclusion
Appendices
Notes
Index
Introduction
1. Treason in Colonial Pennsylvania
The Adoption of English Treason Law
Pennsylvania's Earliest Treason Cases
The Outbreak of War
The Disputes with Virginia and Connecticut
2. Resistance and Treason, 1765-1775
Justifying Resistance
A Jury of One's Peers
Identifying the Real Traitors
3. Treason Against America, 1775-1776
The War's First Treason Charges
The Second Round of Treason Charges
County Committees of Safety
Denunciation of Enemies
The British Legal Response to the Rebels
Independence
4. From Independence to Invasion, 1776-1778
The Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention and the Treason Ordinance
The Council of Safety and the County Committees
Enactment of a Treason Statute
The Case of James Molesworth and the Scope of Military Jurisdiction
The Test Act
Re-Opening the Courts
The Exiles to Virginia
The Fall of Philadelphia and Military Trials
5. The Winding Path to the Courthouse, 1778
Prosecutions in the County Courts
The Attainder Statute and Property Forfeitures
Chief Justice Thomas McKean and the Re-Opening of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Special Commission for Bedford County
The Return to Philadelphia
Hiring Prosecutors and Court Employees
The Chester County Treason Trials
6. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778-1779: Forming the Jury
The Grand Jurors
Trial Juror Selection: The Panel and Challenges
Trial Juror Demographics
Trial Juror Political Activity
7. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778-1779: Trial and Deliberation
Defendant Demographics and Political Activity
Defense Counsel
Charges and Defenses
Trial Witnesses
Evidentiary Objections
Jury Deliberations
The Death Penalty
8. Resentment and Betrayal, 1779-1781
The Newspaper Debates over the Franks Trial
The Trial of Samuel Rowland Fisher
Fort Wilson
Modifications to Pennsylvania's Treason Law
The Battle Over Detentions
Misprision of Treason Cases before the Justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Benedict Arnold
The Aftermath: The Executions of David Dawson and Ralph Morden
The Berks County Tax Revolt
The Trials of Justin McCarty and Samuel Chapman
9. Peace, the Constitution, and Rebellion, 1781-1800
Treason Prosecutions after Yorktown
Treason Cases: Summary Data
The Escaping Prisoners Cases
The Returning Loyalists
The Continuing Threat of Internal Dismemberment
Treason and the United States Constitution
The Status of State Treason Law
The Whiskey Rebellion
Fries's Rebellion
Conclusion
Appendices
Notes
Index
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