07-20-2011, 01:33 PM
I marvel at those who decry the death penalty as Un-Constitutional. Cruel and unusual punishment and the depriving of life and liberty . . . yadda, yadda .
Thomas Jefferson believed in both hanging and poisoning. Maiming, too.
Odd, isn’t it? A contributor to the Constitution and his views are ignored.
Here’s a sample from 1778:
“If any person commit Petty treason, or a husband murder his wife, a parent his child, or a child his parent, he shall suffer death by hanging, and his body be delivered to Anatomists to be dissected.
Whosoever committeth murder by poisoning shall suffer death by poison.
Whosoever committeth murder by way of duel, shall suffer death by hanging; and if he were the challenger, his body, after death, shall be gibbeted. He who removeth it from the gibbet shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and the officer shall see that it be replaced.
Whosoever shall commit murder in any other way shall suffer death by hanging.
Whosoever on purpose and of malice forethought shall maim another, or shall disfigure him, by cutting out or disabling the tongue, slitting or cutting off a nose, lip or ear, branding, or otherwise, shall be maimed or disfigured in like sort: or if that cannot be for want of the same part, then as nearly as may be in some other part of at least equal value and estimation in the opinion of a jury and moreover shall forfiet one half of his lands and goods to the sufferer.”
Yeah . . . they had no idea what constituted justice or punishment.
Thomas Jefferson believed in both hanging and poisoning. Maiming, too.
Odd, isn’t it? A contributor to the Constitution and his views are ignored.
Here’s a sample from 1778:
“If any person commit Petty treason, or a husband murder his wife, a parent his child, or a child his parent, he shall suffer death by hanging, and his body be delivered to Anatomists to be dissected.
Whosoever committeth murder by poisoning shall suffer death by poison.
Whosoever committeth murder by way of duel, shall suffer death by hanging; and if he were the challenger, his body, after death, shall be gibbeted. He who removeth it from the gibbet shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and the officer shall see that it be replaced.
Whosoever shall commit murder in any other way shall suffer death by hanging.
Whosoever on purpose and of malice forethought shall maim another, or shall disfigure him, by cutting out or disabling the tongue, slitting or cutting off a nose, lip or ear, branding, or otherwise, shall be maimed or disfigured in like sort: or if that cannot be for want of the same part, then as nearly as may be in some other part of at least equal value and estimation in the opinion of a jury and moreover shall forfiet one half of his lands and goods to the sufferer.”
Yeah . . . they had no idea what constituted justice or punishment.