Digital Commons Network^™

Why Did The Signers Of The Declaration Of Independence Engage In This Treasonous Act?, Marvin L. Simner

History Publications

The penalty for committing an act of treason against the Crown in 1775, as read by British judges sentencing Irish rebels, was as follows:

You are to be drawn on hurdles to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged by the neck, but not until you are dead; for, while you are still living your bodies are to be taken down, your bowels torn out and burned before your faces, your heads then cut off, and your bodies divided each into four quarters, and your heads and quarters to be then at the King’s disposal; and may …