Capital Punishment in America, 1607 - 1846

Aims

This project is intended to investigate the changing nature of the legal regulation of capital punishment in America between 1607 and 1846. More specifically, I would like to explore the following question: how and why did the death penalty evolve from its position as the favored sanction for a whole array of crimes (taking the year of the first permanent British settlement in America - 1607 - as our starting date) to its legal abolition for all common crimes for the first time (Michigan, 1846)(1) ?

One preliminary note: the bounds of my research will generally be restricted to the death penalty in the aforementioned period as it related to those other than slaves - although the position of slaves at the time is clearly an important topic, I believe that it may be better dealt with in a separate inquiry.

I have tentatively identified a few questions to frame my inquiry:

• To which crimes did the death penalty attach? How did this change between 1607 and 1846?
• To what extent was the evolving legal regulation of capital punishment linked to shifting legal, political, and social views?

Potential sources:

• Banner, The Death Penalty (2002) Banner_The_Death_Penalty.pdf

Notes

1 : Note that the abolition of capital punishment for all common crimes in Michigan did not lead others to follow suit. The death penalty has had a turbulent history between 1846 and the present, but that material is beyond the scope of this inquiry