g-rh (03/26/83)
Several contributors to net.misc seem to believe that Aaron Burr
was convicted of treason. In point of fact, he was acquitted. The
latest Encyclopedia Brittanica gives some details of the case in their
article on Burr; a good American history text will give more. There
is at least one biography of Burr; I do not know the title.
The events that triggered the trial occurred after Burr killed
Hamilton in a duel. Burr and General James Wilkinson (who was in
the secret pay of Spain) planned to invade Mexico and establish an
independent government there. They further hoped to foment a
successionist movement in the west and join it to Mexico with New
Orleans as the capitol. Wilkinson betrayed Burr to Jefferson and
Burr was arrested. Burr was tried before Chief Justice Marshall
in Richmond in May 1807. The evidence showed that Burr had planned
treason; however he had been arrested before he was actually able
to commit an overt act and was acquitted. Subsequently he went
to Europe for four years, and then returned to New York and practiced
law for 24 years.
The case was important in constitutional law because it turned
on the question of an overt act. Article III, section III of the
constitution reads:
"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.
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."
An overt act is simply an open act, i.e. one which may be
testified to and not a mere state of conciousness. Treason typically
involves a conspiracy. In common law all conspirators are jointly
liable for the actions of the conspiracy whether they took part in
them or not. In the Burr case Justice Marshall ruled that Burr
must be linked to the conspiracy with an overt act of his own.