"Whom Can We Trust Now?": The Meaning of Treason in the United States, from the Revolution Through the Civil WarFor several hours in August 1787, the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention debated the two sentences defining treason that would serve as the only criminal law in the U.S. Constitution. As storied and controversial as this ancient crime was, the meaning of treason for the new democratic republic was difficult to foresee. Historian and lawyer Brian Carso demonstrates that although treason law was conflicted and awkward, the broader idea of treason gave recognizable shape to abstract ideas of loyalty, betrayal, allegiance, and political obligation in the United States. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Carso begins by exploring the nature of loyalty and betrayal in a democratic republic, using examples ranging from Socrates in Plato's Crito to the dilemma of Robert E. Lee in 1861 and the trial of Timothy McVeigh in 1997. Turning to legal history, the study considers the historical antecedents of the Treason Clause of the U.S. Constitution and examines the utility of American treason law as it was applied in a variety of cases, most notably in the 1807 trial of Aaron Burr, in which Supreme Court Justice John Marshall used twenty-five thousand words to explicate the Treason Clause. Finding that the antinomies of treason law in a democratic republic make successful prosecutions against treason nearly impossible, Carso turns to the political, intellectual, and cultural realms of civic life to identify and to explain the broader meaning of treason. The study investigates the perpetual condemnation of Benedict Arnold and the many ways treason animated civic discourse during the Civil war. By examining editorials, sermons, histories, orations, art, literature, and political cartoons, Carso identifies how the meaning of treason engaged the public imagination in a variety of compelling forms and instructed citizens on loyalty and betrayal outside the courtroom as much as within it. |
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Contents
What is a Traitor? Loyalty Betrayal and the State | 7 |
A Republic If You Can Keep It The Evolution of Treason in America 16201787 | 33 |
Seasons of Insurrection Early Rebellions and the Trial of Aaron Burr | 87 |
The Damnation of His Fame Benedict Arnold and the Cultural Punishment of Betrayal | 129 |
With Malice Toward None Treason Amnesty and the Language of Betrayal during the Civil War | 181 |
Common terms and phrases
25 Edward Aaron Burr allegiance American Law American Revolution André argued army authority Benedict Arnold Bernard Bailyn betrayal Blackstone Bollman Boston British Burr Trials Burr's citizens Civil colonies colonists Confederate Congress conspiracy Constitution constructive treason Continental Continental Army Continental Congress crime debate declared Edward III enemy England English explained fame federal Federalist George Washington Harper's Weekly historian History idea of treason indictment infamy insurrection James Jefferson Davis John John André Justice king Law of Treason levying Lincoln loyalty Madison Marshall Massachusetts meaning of treason Mercy Otis Warren military moral Nullification Crisis overt act Pardon and Amnesty Patriot person Philadelphia political popular sovereignty President prosecution punishment quoted Ramsay rebellion rebels republican Revolutionary secession Society sovereign statute Supreme Court tion traitor trea treachery Treason Clause treason law Treason of Benedict U.S. Supreme Court Union United University Press Virginia virtue Warren West Point Wilkinson William wrote York