...the Laws of the Land, relative to Manslaughter, which is a Felony? It has its Clergy. It is true the Word Manslaughter is once mentioned in the statute of H. 8. Every Indictment found, &c. of Treasons, Felonies Robberies, Murthers, ...have their Clergy. §3. For Treasons, Robberies, Felonies, Murthers, and Confederacies done at sea, the offenders shall not have Clergy. Here Manslaughter...
2Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 24 September 1786 (Adams Papers)
until he was appointed brigadier-general in command of the Northwestern Army. Hull surrendered his army and the post of Detroit to the British in Aug. 1812, resulting in his court martial for treason, cowardice, and neglect of duty. President Madison remanded the execution of the death sentence and Hull retired to Newton.
3To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 21 February 1789 (Adams Papers)
...constitution, served as president of the state from 1778 to 1781. In Aug. and Sept. 1778, with the help of Attorney General Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, Reed directed 23 treason trials of alleged Philadelphia loyalists, including the conviction of Quaker artisans Abraham Carlisle and John Roberts. Rush joined the widespread public appeal for their pardon, but the two men were...
4Charles Adams to John Adams, 7 February 1796 (Adams Papers)
...the attention of our Statesmen the reduction of our penal code to a spirit of more mildness is one the most interesting to humanity. The Senate have passed a bill to abolish the punishment of death in all cases murder treason and burglary excepted....19 Feb., when it passed the senate. The assembly concurred, after various adjustments, on 25 March. The act allowed for capital punishment in...
5Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1797 (Adams Papers)
at Milton they keep a Nightly Watch. it is really a Distressing calamity, but we shall be infested with more vagabonds, if the states go on to abolish capital punishmentsCapital punishment was an increasingly contested issue in the 1790s. Between 1794 and 1798 five states restricted the use of the death penalty to cases of murder or murder and treason. Virginia and New Jersey joined New York...
6To James Madison from George Joy, 17 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
satisfaction that there has been no capital punishment for high treason? A better cause of satisfaction would have been that no one had deserved it.Monroe wrote: “and I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason” (
Prior to the passage of this bill, those convicted in New York of committing sixteen different felonies, including forgery, burglary, and arson, would receive a death sentence. However, under the new law, only treason, murder, and theft from a church were still categorized as capital offenses...., excepting those found guilty of treason and murder. In the latter two cases, the governor...