The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee by John Reeves

The Johnson administration was committed to it, but they wanted to do it in a traditional courtroom and not a military court. But long story short, it was sort of a comedy of errors. I won't go into the long story about why the charges were dropped. And it was because, particularly after the Lincoln assassination, there was a lot of anger, and they felt like we need to hold these folks accountable. REEVES: Shortly after the Civil War, you know, the Johnson administration - Andrew Johnson had replaced Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination - brought charges of treason against 37 Confederates.

Lee.' And I do want to ask about the Civil War.ĬORNISH: Why were treason charges brought against Confederate leadership, and why were those charges eventually dropped? So they want to define it specifically to mean levying war or giving aid to enemies.ĬORNISH: You're the author of the book 'The Lost Indictment Of Robert E. And the founders wanted to be very careful that it didn't start spreading into these areas. And that is over time, the English version started to come into play to mean speech and to mean particular positions on things or even a political party. And that's because our definition of treason borrows a lot of the language from the English version that goes back to the 14th century, but with a specific difference. So in our Constitution, it refers specifically to levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to our enemies.

Historian John Reeves has written about the history of treason, particularly after the Civil War.ĬORNISH: So we said treason is defined in the Constitution. Capitol, it's a word being used to describe the actions of President Trump and those who stormed the Capitol building. Now, after last week's violent invasion of the U.S. It's a crime specifically defined in the Constitution. The word treason holds a special power in the U.S.

The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee by John Reeves