It was on this day, February 19, in 1807, that a former vice president was arrested for treason.
He was arrested, to be specific, at Wakefield, now part of Alabama. This came about because a one-time associate of Burr, General James Wilkinson, Governor of the Louisiana Territory, betrayed him.
It remains unclear just what Burr had been up to in the period between the end of his term as VP and his arrest almost two years later. Did Wilkinson betray him with the truth, or with lies?
From what historians tell us of Wilkinson's character, it could have been either.
At any rate, the arrest led to a spectacular trial presided over by the Chief Justice, John Marshall. Burr was acquitted, though he was never a figure of political importance again -- so in that sense much of Jefferson's purpose in pressing for his arrest and trial had been accomplished.
My point? the whole incident served the young nation well. For Marshall insisted on the significance of the phrase "overt acts" in the constitutional discussion of treason. No one becomes a traitor by virtue of what he says -- there must be some conduct beyond speech -- somnbody has to pick up or load a gun, for example. Treason charges have never subsequently served, in the US, as a way of punishing or limiting dissent. That fact has less to do with the first amendment than we might imagine, and more to do with the "overt act" language in the original constitution, and with Marshall's application of it in this matter.
Just something to remember with some gratitude on this day.
Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts
19 February 2011
18 November 2010
Random Bit of History
"In a vicious cycle, the Federalists became obstructionists because the Republicans cast any opposition as treasonous. Rejecting the concept of the two-party system, the Republicans insisted that they alone expressed the will of the people. Thomas Jefferson explained to William Duane, 'I will not say our party, the term is false and degrading, but our nation will be undone. For the Republicans are the nation.' If the Republicans were the nation, then the Federalists were traitors.
"While urging unitred support for the war, the Republicans gave the Federalists scant reason to cooperate."
Alan Taylor, "The Civil War of 1812" (2010), p. 180.
"While urging unitred support for the war, the Republicans gave the Federalists scant reason to cooperate."
Alan Taylor, "The Civil War of 1812" (2010), p. 180.
19 July 2009
John Dickinson
I've been reading recently THE FOUNDERS ON THE FOUNDERS which, as the title suggests, is a collection of the sometimes snippy (though sometimes admiring) things the founders of the United States had to say about each other before the writers of pious histories got a hold of them.
The editor of this book is John P. Kaminski, the founder and director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution, the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was published by the University of Virginia, 2008.
I was reminded by this book of one of my long-standing objections to the stage musical, and the movie, 1776.
That drama gives John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, all the dramatic Tory speeches about how wonderful it is to be a subject to the Crown. He is the foil of Adams, etc. You would never guess it, from any production thereof, that Dickinson had been a firebrand of anti-tax agitation in the earlier stages of the disputes that led to their being such a thing as a Continental Congress, that led to their being a revolution.
Dickinson was best known before independence as the author of LETTERS FROM A PENNSYLVANIA FARMER (1768). It may have been Dickinson who coined the phrase "no taxation without representation" as the summation of American colonial grievances.
Dickinson had in mind something like the British Commonwealth that later developed. The colonials should be able to tax themselves, and in general govern themselves, he thought, through their own representative assemblies, although some empire-wide regulatory powers should be left to the Parliament in London, and all colonists should remain subjects of the same King.
Dickinson had been raised a Quaker, and knowing that, one is perhaps not surprised that once the fighting began at Lexington, he was no longer a firebrand, but rather a voice within the Congress for keeping lines of communication with the monarchy open, keeping alive the change for a peaceful resolution.
THE FOUNDERS ON THE FOUNDERS has a fascinating section on Dickinson. On June 20, 1779, John Adams, who was then in Paris as an ambassador to the new nation's great ally, wrote in a diary entry that a Chevalier had asked him about Dickinson.
"I explained, as well as I could in French, the Inconsistency of the Farmers Letters and his perseverance in that Inconsistency in Congress. Mr Dickinson's Opposition to the declaration of Independency, I ventured as modestly as I could to let him know that I had the Honor to be the Principal Disputant in Congress upon that Great Question."
In 1808, though, after receiving news of Dickinson's death, Thomas Jefferson was quite sentimental. "Among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain ... his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the Revolution."
The editor of this book is John P. Kaminski, the founder and director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution, the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was published by the University of Virginia, 2008.
I was reminded by this book of one of my long-standing objections to the stage musical, and the movie, 1776.
That drama gives John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, all the dramatic Tory speeches about how wonderful it is to be a subject to the Crown. He is the foil of Adams, etc. You would never guess it, from any production thereof, that Dickinson had been a firebrand of anti-tax agitation in the earlier stages of the disputes that led to their being such a thing as a Continental Congress, that led to their being a revolution.
Dickinson was best known before independence as the author of LETTERS FROM A PENNSYLVANIA FARMER (1768). It may have been Dickinson who coined the phrase "no taxation without representation" as the summation of American colonial grievances.
Dickinson had in mind something like the British Commonwealth that later developed. The colonials should be able to tax themselves, and in general govern themselves, he thought, through their own representative assemblies, although some empire-wide regulatory powers should be left to the Parliament in London, and all colonists should remain subjects of the same King.
Dickinson had been raised a Quaker, and knowing that, one is perhaps not surprised that once the fighting began at Lexington, he was no longer a firebrand, but rather a voice within the Congress for keeping lines of communication with the monarchy open, keeping alive the change for a peaceful resolution.
THE FOUNDERS ON THE FOUNDERS has a fascinating section on Dickinson. On June 20, 1779, John Adams, who was then in Paris as an ambassador to the new nation's great ally, wrote in a diary entry that a Chevalier had asked him about Dickinson.
"I explained, as well as I could in French, the Inconsistency of the Farmers Letters and his perseverance in that Inconsistency in Congress. Mr Dickinson's Opposition to the declaration of Independency, I ventured as modestly as I could to let him know that I had the Honor to be the Principal Disputant in Congress upon that Great Question."
In 1808, though, after receiving news of Dickinson's death, Thomas Jefferson was quite sentimental. "Among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain ... his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the Revolution."
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