When our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, the Revolutionary War had ended only four years before. All had grown up living under a monarch who could accuse any British citizen of treason. If there were a trial and a guilty verdict, the punishment was draconian – death for the accused individual and possibly innocent members of his family via the legal concept of corruption of blood, and through the right of attainder, forfeiture of all the guilty individual’s property and titles.

Corruption of blood was part of English law and enables the court to punish not only the individual who committed the crime, but his/her family as well. In the case of treason, it meant that the extended family could be executed. The right of attainder gave the English Crown to seize the convicted person’s title and property.

English kings and queens used both the corruption of blood and the right of attainder for many purposes. For example, Edward IV used the right of attainder to execute his brother George Plantagenet, the Duke of Clarence for treason. Henry VIII used it to strip Anne Boleyn of her title, wealth so that he could marry another woman. The list is long and was not lost on our Founding Fathers.

One of their fears about a strong central government was that a president could accuse citizens of treason at will, as has happened in England, within their lifetimes. This is why the word “treason” occurs three times in the Constitution. First, in Article III (Judicial) , Section 3, Clause 1 defines the crime of treason and the minimum level of proof by stating Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Clause 2 of the same section states The 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. Back when the Constitution was written attainder meant one was convicted of a crime. C

The language of the Constitution creates a high bar for evidence needed to convict a citizen for treason and limits the punishment the government can impose only to those individuals found guilty.

In the Constitution, the word “felony” appears twice. Once in Article I (Legislative), Section 6, Clause 1 which specifically bars members of Congress from receiving compensation after they have been convicted of a felony.

The word also appears in Article IV (States Relations), Section 2, Clause 2 which establishes the concept of extradition. In other words, if you commit a crime in one state and are captured in another state, the state in which the crime has been committed can ask to have the criminal returned for trial.

Two other crimes are mentioned in the Constitution. One is counterfeiting. In Article III (Legislative), Section 8, Clause 6, the Founding Fathers made their intent clear, To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States…

A few clauses later, in Clause 6 of Article III, Section 8, the Legislative branch of our government is given the power to deal with piracy. The clause states the Congress as the power To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations.

Given the times that most of the Founding Fathers lived, the Age of Piracy officially ended in the 1740s, but in 1787 when the Constitution was written, there were still pirates in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the world, just as there are today.

Image is from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book that details how Margaret of Anjou seized Richard of York’s property after he was executed for treason.

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