Posted on 11/19/2022 7:28:15 PM PST by CheshireTheCat
On November 19, 1720, Edward Hunt was hanged in Philadelphia. He was the only Pennsylvanian executed for treason prior to the American Revolution — that treason being not the betrayal of the state (in the sense we might think of it today), but counterfeiting.
In the bitterness of his scaffold speech, which disdains the customary acknowledge-my-guilt, pray-for-my-soul form of the genre to complain about his case, Hunt made plain that he was not reconciled to the justice men had rendered him.
The American Weekly Mercury of Thursday, November 24 published “this extraordinary Piece” only with a preface complaining that “it is evident, that the following Speech was intended to misrepresent the Administration and Justice of this Government, as well as to infuse both ill Principles and Practices into the Minds of the People.”.....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Well...he won’t be doing that again.
Rough sentence.
Sounds like they hanged him for fake news. How many would swing today?
Current day DoJ !
Ah the good old days when treason was punished…
When was that? Once during the Civil War?
Understandably, it was viewed as a form of treason. Attacking the currency and undermine confidence in its reliability is an attack on the country itself. If it became too prolific, it would devastate the economy.
I bet fewer people engaged in counterfeiting when a short drop and a quick stop was the punishment.
bkmk
Rosenbergs were not charged with treason.
The Constitutional limit makes the charge not worth the trouble for prosecutors.
You are correct. I was wrong. Thank you for the correction.
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