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On May 22, grand jury proceedings related to Aaron Burr's treason trial opened in Richmond, Virginia.
A short excerpt:
"In the summer of 1807, the city of Richmond, Virginia, played host to one of the most remarkable trials in early American history. The case involved several legal luminaries, but its undisputed star was the defendant, 51-year-old Aaron Burr. The New Jersey native had only recently served as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, but since then his reputation had been marred by political intrigue and his participation in a duel that had left Alexander Hamilton dead. Burr now stood accused of one of the gravest crimes in American law: treason. According to one account, he had been at the heart of a “deep, dark, and wicked conspiracy” against the young United States."
A short excerpt:
"In the summer of 1807, the city of Richmond, Virginia, played host to one of the most remarkable trials in early American history. The case involved several legal luminaries, but its undisputed star was the defendant, 51-year-old Aaron Burr. The New Jersey native had only recently served as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, but since then his reputation had been marred by political intrigue and his participation in a duel that had left Alexander Hamilton dead. Burr now stood accused of one of the gravest crimes in American law: treason. According to one account, he had been at the heart of a “deep, dark, and wicked conspiracy” against the young United States."
Aaron Burr’s Notorious Treason Case
Posted from history.com
World History
Military History
American History
Treason
Law
Posted 3 y ago
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Thanks for the share.
That final sentence does make me want to know: who else has actually been prosecuted for treason?
That final sentence does make me want to know: who else has actually been prosecuted for treason?
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Capt Gregory Prickett
1LT William Clardy - Did I state that Brown was tried by the Federal government? I also didn't mention Joseph Smith, who was arrested by Missouri for treason and escaped, and then arrested by Illinois and was shot trying to escape after he had shot a jailer. I'm well aware of the difference between federal and state charges.
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1LT William Clardy
No, you didn't misstate anything, Capt Gregory Prickett, but it did seem a reasonable inference from your omission. I apologize for any perceived slight -- I appreciate those too-rare occasions when I bump into someone who has actually studied something enough to know actual facts.
Your account of Smith's demise may be a bit misleading -- the Mormon Wars were just as ugly as the (later) fighting over slavery in Bloody Kansas, and the LDS version of that bit is that Smith was shot while trying to escape a lynch mob storming the jail, having already seen his brother shot dead in the attack. To be clear, I doubt that he could have mustered any plausible defense against the charge of treason -- by even the most sympathetic accounts, he had led armed attacks against government-mustered militias in two states.
Your account of Smith's demise may be a bit misleading -- the Mormon Wars were just as ugly as the (later) fighting over slavery in Bloody Kansas, and the LDS version of that bit is that Smith was shot while trying to escape a lynch mob storming the jail, having already seen his brother shot dead in the attack. To be clear, I doubt that he could have mustered any plausible defense against the charge of treason -- by even the most sympathetic accounts, he had led armed attacks against government-mustered militias in two states.
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Capt Gregory Prickett
1LT William Clardy - No need to apologize. I disagree with the LDS on how he died, they conveniently leave out that someone smuggled a pepperbox pistol to him or that he had already shot three people before he was killed trying to go thru the 2d floor window.
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1LT William Clardy
Your opinion may vary (especially if your legal background includes time on the prosecution side), but shooting those three people seems much more reasonable to me when you add the context that he shot them through the same doorway that a bunch of very unfriendly folks were shooting through trying to kill the handful of Mormon prisoners inside (and being very successful at it). Trying to escape out the window also seems very reasonable under those circumstances, even if there were more folks waiting outside for someone to shoot at.
Also, I don't believe that the official LDS renditions omit someone smuggling the in the pistol - when I was doing some quick checking, several BYU-affilliated sources even identified who smuggled in the pistol and how. Where they do still get light on details tends to be discussing the Mormon militias pillaging and torching non-Mormon properties, or indulging in more lethal retaliatory violence.
Also, I don't believe that the official LDS renditions omit someone smuggling the in the pistol - when I was doing some quick checking, several BYU-affilliated sources even identified who smuggled in the pistol and how. Where they do still get light on details tends to be discussing the Mormon militias pillaging and torching non-Mormon properties, or indulging in more lethal retaliatory violence.
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