| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="WebPreferences" |
|---|
-- AngelaChen - 08 Nov 2009 | | | One of the key purposes of the Christian faith as it relates to the capital punishment was its fundamental use in bolstering the legitimacy of the death penalty. The 'Capital Laws' section of the 'Massachusetts Body of Liberties' is a clear example of this - each capital crime is accompanied by one or more references to the text of the Bible. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was perhaps unique in that it was heavily driven by (or even primarily founded because of) Puritan ideals; hence the use of capital punishment for a variety of 'moral' crimes until more secular views took hold. Contrast this with the much more prominent use of the death penalty for minor property crimes in the South, for a significant part motivated by the need to keep 'order' amongst a population dominated by the presence of slaves and characterized by more uneven distribution of wealth. However, though other colonies were perhaps not quite as fervently driven by religious beliefs, their early laws nonetheless reflected the paramountcy of faith, much more so then than in the present day. For instance, the Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall of Virginia is entitled with, opens with, and is interspersed throughout with religious references. The 'Almightie God' is essentially made out to be the fount of all justice, with offences such as blasphemy featuring prominently at the beginning of the text, punishable by death - this criminal code is the harshest of any in the colonies.
Notes
:
:
:
:
| |
<
< | For much of the period relevant to this paper, religion also played a key role when it came to the executions themselves. Until the late 17th century, when it came to the actual 'ceremony' of hanging ministers were often in the limelight. Steelwater describes ministers in the Puritan hierarchy, for example, as "the masters of law, of innocence and guilt". Ministers' duties surrounding an execution were chiefly two-fold: to the public on the one hand and to the condemned convict himself on the other. To the public, their role was to strike fear into the hearts of those contemplating crime and to emphasize the virtues of Godliness. Such large gatherings of people effectively became the ministers' congregation, so as long as they remained keenly interested in what ministers had to say, public executions had a supposedly pedagogical purpose. To the convict himself (or herself), ministers often represented a last hope of salvation in this world (i.e. getting a pardon) prior to the execution day, and a last hope of 'eternal salvation' via repentance on the day itself.
Notes
:
:
| >
> | For much of the period relevant to this paper, religion also played a key role when it came to the executions themselves. Until the late 17th century, when it came to the actual 'ceremony' of hanging ministers were often in the limelight. Steelwater describes ministers in the Puritan hierarchy, for example, as "the masters of law, of innocence and guilt". The writings of Cotton Mather, a minister from the Massachusetts Bay Colony who appears to have achieved significant fame, provide a good illustration of how highly prayers and sermons were regarded at the time: at the execution of one Sarah Smith, falling asleep during the prayer and sermon at her own execution ceremony was listed together with transgressions such as adultery, stealing and murdering her newborn. Ministers' duties surrounding an execution were chiefly two-fold: to the public on the one hand and to the condemned convict himself on the other. To the public, their role was to strike fear into the hearts of those contemplating crime and to emphasize the virtues of Godliness. Such large gatherings of people effectively became the ministers' congregation, so as long as they remained keenly interested in what ministers had to say, public executions had a supposedly pedagogical purpose. To the convict himself (or herself), ministers often represented a last hope of salvation in this world (i.e. getting a pardon) prior to the execution day, and a last hope of 'eternal salvation' via repentance on the day itself.
Notes
:
| | | By the late 18th century, however, crowds were becoming unmanagable both due to an increase in size and a marked lessening of deference to ministers and public officials present. Executions "took on the atmosphere of a combined market day and festival" and ministers were now invitees of the community and no longer representatives of state religion. Therefore although ministers continued to attend executions their role was much diminished, with the long sermons to orderly gatherings being replaced by a brief prayer. The immediate consequence of this was that both the educational and deterrent purposes of public executions were greatly diminished. In addition to this, the loss of the original sense of religious mission in the New England colonies and growing moral and religious diversity led to a number of moral offenses being removed from the list of capital crimes. The decay of religion led to a vacuum of 'legitimation' which utilitarianism and philosophical thought sought to fill - not always successfully. Thus we see the beginnings of a development away from universal use of the death penalty.
Notes
:
:
:
| | | | |
>
> | | | |
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Banner_The_Death_Penalty.pdf" attr="" comment="Banner, The Death Penalty (2002)" date="1257731914" name="Banner_The_Death_Penalty.pdf" path="Banner_The Death Penalty.pdf" size="711047" stream="Banner_The Death Penalty.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Bedau_Titlepage.pdf" attr="" comment="Bedau, The Death Penalty in America (1968)" date="1258519645" name="Bedau_Titlepage.pdf" path="Bedau_Titlepage.pdf" size="901923" stream="Bedau_Titlepage.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Kronenwetter_Title_Page.pdf" attr="" comment="Kronenwetter, Capital Punishment: A Reference Handbook (1993)" date="1258519777" name="Kronenwetter_Title_Page.pdf" path="Kronenwetter_Title Page.pdf" size="1944482" stream="Kronenwetter_Title Page.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| | |
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Rush_On_Punishment_of_Murder_by_Death.pdf" attr="" comment="Rush, On the Punishment of Murder by Death, 1792" date="1259214828" name="Rush_On_Punishment_of_Murder_by_Death.pdf" path="Rush_On_Punishment_of_Murder_by_Death.pdf" size="108527" stream="Rush_On_Punishment_of_Murder_by_Death.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Rantoul__report_on_the_abolition_of_capital_punishment.pdf" attr="" comment="Rantoul, Report on the Abolition of Capital Punishment, 1836" date="1259215141" name="Rantoul__report_on_the_abolition_of_capital_punishment.pdf" path="Rantoul _report_on_the_abolition_of_capital_punishment.pdf" size="371572" stream="Rantoul _report_on_the_abolition_of_capital_punishment.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Thackeray_Going_To_See_A_Man_Hanged.pdf" attr="" comment="William Makepeace Thackeray, Going to See a Man Hanged (1840) - part of a collection of his works" date="1259348721" name="Thackeray_Going_To_See_A_Man_Hanged.pdf" path="Thackeray_Going_To_See_A_Man_Hanged.pdf" size="161695" stream="Thackeray_Going_To_See_A_Man_Hanged.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
| |
>
> |
| META FILEATTACHMENT | attachment="Mather_Pillars_of_Salt_1699.pdf" attr="" comment="Mather, Pillars of Salt Chapter XI (1699)" date="1259373196" name="Mather_Pillars_of_Salt_1699.pdf" path="Mather_Pillars_of_Salt_1699.pdf" size="837423" stream="Mather_Pillars_of_Salt_1699.pdf" user="Main.AngelaChen" version="1" |
|---|
|
|