The Trials of Allegiance : Treason, Juries, and the American Revolution

__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. 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__ will reframe how we think about treason in American history—up to and including the present. "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. 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 will reframe how we think about treason in American history--up to and including the present." -- Oxford Scholarship Online "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. 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."-- Provided by publisher 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.0Drawing 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 made0a 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.0More 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.0In 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 Cover Title_Pages Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Treason in Colonial Pennsylvania 2. Resistance and Treason, 1765– 1775 3. Treason against America, 1775– 1776 4. From Independence to Invasion, 1776– 1778 5. The Winding Path to the Courthouse, 1778 6. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778–1779: Forming the Jury 7. The Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778–1779: Trial and Deliberation 8. Resentment and Betrayal, 1779– 1781 9. Peace, the Constitution, and Rebellion, 1781–1800 Conclusion Appendix 1: Juror Assignments: Philadelphia Treason Trials, 1778–1779 Appendix 2: Jury Trials for High Treason in Pennsylvania during the American Revolution Appendix 3: Jury Trials for High Treason, United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, 1795–1800, Held at City Hall in Philadelphia Abbreviations Notes Index Although we tend to think of the American Revolution as an act of treason against Great Britain (which it was), revolutionary Americans regularly employed the law of treason against those people perceived as aiding the British. But, in revolutionary Pennsylvania, juries did something astonishing; they regularly acquitted people accused of treason. The Trials of Allegiance explains why: the juries were carefully selected in ways that benefited the defendants, and jurors did not believe that the death penalty was the appropriate punishment for treason. The American Revolution, unlike many others