Editing Treason (section)

===United States===
{{See also|Treason laws in the United States}}
The offense of treason exists at both federal and state levels. The federal crime is defined in the Constitution (and is the only crime defined by it) as either levying war against the United States or adhering to its enemies, and carries a sentence of death or imprisonment and fine.

In the 1790s, [[Opposition (politics)|opposition]] political parties were new and not fully accepted. Government leaders often considered their opponents to be traitors. Historian [[Ron Chernow]] reports that Secretary of the Treasury [[Alexander Hamilton]] and President [[George Washington]] "regarded much of the criticism fired at their administration as disloyal, even treasonous, in nature."<ref>{{cite book|author=Ron Chernow|title=Alexander Hamilton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4iafgTEhU3QC&pg=PA392|year=2005|publisher=Penguin Books|page=392|isbn=9780143034759}}</ref> When the undeclared [[Quasi-War]] broke out with [[French First Republic|France]] in 1797–98, "Hamilton increasingly mistook dissent for treason and engaged in hyperbole." Furthermore, the [[Democratic-Republican Party|Jeffersonian opposition party]] behaved the same way.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chernow|title=Alexander Hamilton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4iafgTEhU3QC&pg=PA569|year=2005|page=569|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0143034759}}</ref> After 1801, with a peaceful transition in the political party in power, the rhetoric of "treason" against political opponents diminished.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Hofstadter|title=The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780–1840|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdVQmgnDv84C&pg=PA141|year=1969|publisher=University of California Press|page=141|isbn=978-0520017542}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=2710583|title=The Federalist Period as an Age of Passion|journal=American Quarterly|volume=10|issue=4|pages=391–419|last=Smelser|first=Marshall|year=1958|doi=10.2307/2710583}}</ref>

In the United States, [[Benedict Arnold]]'s name is considered synonymous with treason due to his collaboration with the British during the [[American Revolutionary War]].

"Traitor" was in some cases treated as an honorable label when there had been considerable dissent from policies of the central government. "All the Founding Fathers had once been branded traitors by an unjust establishment power structure. So too, before them, had the Plymouth and Salem Puritans to whom so many...traced their roots."<ref name=Renehan>{{cite book|title=The Secret Six. The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown|first=Edward J.|last=Renehan, Jr.|location=New York|publisher=Crown|date=1995|isbn=051759028X}}</ref>{{rp|55}} [[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionists]], who denied the authority of the federal government (see [[Secession in the United States#Abolitionists seek Northern secession|Secession in the United States]]), proudly called each other traitors. This includes [[Theodore Parker]], [[Thomas Wentworth Higginson]], [[Samuel Gridley Howe]], "and those like them." [[William Lloyd Garrison]] "proudly called himself a traitor for decades."<ref name=Renehan/>{{rp|55}}

====Federal====
To avoid the abuses of the English law, the scope of treason was specifically restricted in the [[United States Constitution]]. [[Article Three of the United States Constitution|Article III]], section 3 reads as follows:

{{blockquote|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 [[Attainder#Corruption of blood|Corruption of Blood]], or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.}}

The Constitution does not itself create the offense; it only restricts the definition (the first paragraph), permits the [[United States Congress]] to create the offense, and restricts any punishment for treason to only the convicted (the second paragraph). The crime is prohibited by legislation passed by [[United States Congress|Congress]]. Therefore, the [[United States Code]] at {{usc|18|2381}} states: {{blockquote|Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.}}

The requirement of testimony of two witnesses was inherited from the British [[Treason Act 1695]].

However, Congress has passed laws creating related offenses that punish conduct that undermines the government or the national security, such as [[sedition]] in the 1798 [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], or [[espionage]] and [[sedition]] in the [[Espionage Act of 1917]], which do not require the testimony of two witnesses and have a much broader definition than Article Three treason. Some of these laws are still in effect. The well-known spies [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]] were charged with, and [[Capital punishment in the United States|executed]] after being convicted of, conspiracy to commit espionage, rather than treason.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/weekinreview/nation-rosenbergs-50-years-later-yes-they-were-guilty-but-what-exactly.html "The Nation: The Rosenbergs, 50 Years Later; Yes, They Were Guilty. But of What Exactly?"] by Sam Roberts, ''The New York Times'', 15 June 2003</ref> The last American executed primarily for treason was [[William Bruce Mumford]] in 1862.

====Treason against U.S. states====
Most states have treason provisions in their constitutions or statutes similar to those in the U.S. Constitution. The [[Extradition Clause]] specifically defines treason as an extraditable offense.

Thomas Jefferson in 1791 said that any [[Virginia]] official who cooperated with the federal [[First Bank of the United States|Bank of the United States]] proposed by [[Alexander Hamilton]] was guilty of "treason" against the state of Virginia and should be executed.  The bank opened and no one was prosecuted.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ron Chernow|title=Alexander Hamilton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4iafgTEhU3QC&pg=PA352|year=2005|publisher=Penguin Books|page=352|isbn=9780143034759}}</ref>

Several persons have been prosecuted for treason on the state level. [[Thomas Dorr]] was convicted for treason against the state of [[Rhode Island]] for his part in the [[Dorr Rebellion]], but was eventually granted [[amnesty]]. [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] was convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia for his part in the 1859 [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry|raid on Harpers Ferry]], and was hanged. The [[Mormon]] [[prophet]], [[Joseph Smith]], was charged with treason against [[Missouri]] along with five others, at first in front of a state [[military court]], but Smith was allowed to escape<ref>{{cite web|last=Walker|first=Jeff|title=A Change of Venue: Joseph Smith's Escape from Liberty Jail|website=Fairmormon.org|date=2 August 2007|url=https://www.fairmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2007-Jeffrey-Walker.pdf}}</ref> to [[Illinois]] after his case was transferred to a civilian court for trial on charges of treason and other crimes.<ref>Fawn M. Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History'' (1945, reprinted 1995, NY, Vintage Books) chap. 17, p. 255.</ref> Smith was then later imprisoned for trial on charges of treason against Illinois, but was murdered by a lynch mob while in jail awaiting trial.