Speech of William Branch Giles on Treason Bill (February 1808).

• imprint_number: 1808.025
• title: Debate on the bill for the punishment of treason, and of other crimes and offences against the United States. In Senate of the United States--Feb. 1808. Mr. Giles then rose and delivered a speech substantially as follows: …
• sequence_number: 25
• year: 1808
• place_issued: Richmond
• issuing_press: Thomas W. White
• author: Giles, William Branch (1762-1830), senator.
• notes: On February 11, 1808, Giles presented a bill to the U.S. Senate that proposed a legislative definition of treason, countering the judicial decision advanced by John Marshall in 1807 during the trial of Aaron Burr in Richmond; the text here reprints the text seen in the Senate journal synopsizing Giles's speech defending his bill on constitutional grounds, and attacking Marshall's definition from English common law precedent; the bill did pass the Senate.
  This title is the first imprint issued by White, the future publisher of the Southern Literary Messenger, then just twenty years old, as an independent job-printer in Richmond.
  
  
• Related Bios:
  • Thomas Willis White

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.