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From a standard reference: "Treason, a crime against the state to which allegiance is owed, consists of attempting to overthrow the government or betraying it into the hands of enemies intent on overthrowing it. Under English law high treason was once so broad a term that it was used until the 19th century to justify punishing all sorts of persons who were judged as enemies of the monarch. The U.S. Constitution narrowly defines treason and specifically declares: "No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court." This constitutional statement was strictly followed by Chief Justice John Marshall in the 1807 trial of Aaron Burr, who was charged with treason for allegedly plotting to establish an independent republic in the Louisiana Territory but who was acquitted because the prosecution could not prove Burr guilty of "an overt act of levying war." Due to the unusually difficult burden of proof, less than 40 federal prosecutions for treason have occurred, and only once in its history has the U.S. Supreme Court sustained a conviction for treason (Haupt v. United States, 1947). Many state constitutions have treason provisions, but only two persons have been successfully prosecuted by states: Thomas Dorr and John Brown. Dorr's Rebellion was an uprising in Rhode Island in 1842 to secure constitutional reform. At that time the state was still governed under the terms of the 1663 colonial charter, which restricted voting rights to male property owners. In 1841 a reform movement began, led by Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805-54). Dorr called a convention (October 1841) which drafted a constitution based on universal male suffrage. The state legislature countered by drafting its own new constitution; but it was rejected in a referendum, and Dorr's constitution was approved. Although state government ruled Dorr's constitution illegal, his party nonetheless held elections, and as a result, Dorr proclaimed himself governor in April 1842. The official government then declared martial law, and after some armed clashes Dorr fled the state. Later sentenced (1844) to life imprisonment, he was released after one year. In the meantime, Rhode Island legally adopted (1843) a new, liberalized constitution." "The American abolitionist John Brown is remembered especially for his raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859. Born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Conn., he grew up in Ohio. During most of his adult years Brown wandered from job to job. Ill fortune, business reverses, and charges of illegal practices followed him from the 1820s onward. By the 1850s, however, he had become deeply interested in the slavery question. Brown envisioned emancipation by massive slave insurrection, but he did not pursue that goal until the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. Before then, he and five of his sons became embroiled in the struggle between proslavery and antislavery forces for control of the territorial government in Kansas. By the spring of 1855, civil strife had broken out in Kansas and Brown had assumed command of local Free-Soil militia. Within a year, proslavery forces had sacked the Free-Soil town of Lawrence, an event that triggered a bloody retaliation by Brown. During the night of May 24, 1856, Brown, four of his sons, and two other followers invaded the Pottawatomie River country and killed five helpless settlers, hacking them with sabers. Brown, who was never caught, took full responsibility for the act. From then on, Brown became even more preoccupied with abolition by slave insurrection. Observers often remarked on his magnetic ability to dominate and involve others in his designs. By 1858 he had persuaded a number of the North's most prominent abolitionists to finance his insurrectionary projects. After protracted conspiracy, delay, and diversion, Brown finally chose Harpers Fery as his point of attack, hoping to establish a base in the mountains to which slaves and free blacks could flee. Brown assembled an armed force of 21 men about five miles from Harpers Ferry, and on Oct. 16, 1859, they seized the town and occupied the federal arsenal. The town was soon surrounded by local militia, and federal troops under Robert E. Lee arrived the next day. Ten of Brown's army died in the ensuing battle, and Brown himself was wounded. Arrested and charged with treason, Brown conducted himself with great courage and displayed considerable skill in arousing Northern sympathy. Many hailed him as a noble martyr, even as Southern whites expresed deep outrage at his fanaticism. His hanging, on Dec. 2, 1859, symbolically foreshadowed the violence of the Civil War, which broke out two years later."