[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rZjCmUBEHftE91DeNru5KqLSSaOmvYzpnCjBdzKdLqM.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000119","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/3\/essays\/120\/punishment-of-treason\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPunishment of Treason\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n Article III, Section 3, Clause 2\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnder English common law, punishment for treason generally included drawing, hanging, beheading, and quartering. As with other crimes carrying sentence of death, those adjudged guilty of treason and finally sentenced were considered attaint, or stained, meaning dead in the eyes of the law\u2014even before execution. Once attainder was established, the attainted forfeited his real estate to the crown\u2014a requirement symbolizing lack of entitlement to the benefits of society.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAttainder also worked corruption of blood, preventing the attainted from inheriting or transmitting property and preventing any person from deriving title through the attainted. Forfeitures and corruption of blood worked hardship on dependents and relatives in order to provide maximum deterrence. Eventually, Parliament modified the laws of forfeiture and corruption of blood to protect the innocent.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to the Constitution, punishment can be set by Congress, but cannot include corruption of blood or forfeiture extending beyond the offender\u2019s life. Quite apart from this limitation, Justice Joseph Story notes in his \u003Cem\u003ECommentaries on the Constitution of the United States\u003C\/em\u003E (1833) that the explicit grant of congressional power over punishment was intended as a leniency, to preclude the assumption of the common law punishment\u2019s harshest elements. The First Congress used its constitutional power of declaring the punishment for treason by establishing the penalty of death, with seven years\u2019 imprisonment for misprision of treason.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe actual punishments for those convicted of the federal crime of treason have generally been more lenient than the statutory maximums. President George Washington pardoned those convicted for their part in the Whiskey Rebellion. The United States government regarded Confederate activity as a levying of war, but all Confederates were pardoned by presidential amnesty. Max Haupt, convicted for giving aid and comfort to his alien son, was spared death and sentenced to life imprisonment. (His son, Herbert, was convicted by a military tribunal for his role as saboteur and executed in 1942.) Tomoyo Kawakita, convicted of treason for abusing American prisoners of war, was sentenced to death but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. By contrast, the Ethel and Julius Rosenbergs\u2019 espionage convictions brought death sentences.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOf the two successful prosecutions for treason at the state level\u2014Thomas Dorr in Rhode Island in 1844 and John Brown in Virginia in 1859\u2014only Brown was executed. Dorr was pardoned, and elements of the political agitations for which he was convicted were soon adopted into law in Rhode Island.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.stvincent.edu\/Majors_and_Programs\/Majors_and_Programs\/Politics\/Bradley_C_S__Watson\/\u0022\u003EBradley C. S. Watson\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/h4\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n Chairman, Politics Department, Saint Vincent College\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000119-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000119-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000119-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000119-taba\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000119-tabb\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000119-tabc\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000061\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EBill of Attainder\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]