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100 | 1 | _aWILLING Richard | |
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_aOf life, liberty and the pursuit of 'All persons found lurking within our lines': _bthe continental congress' committee on spies and the path to American independence/ _cRichard Willing |
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260 | _c2022 | ||
520 | _aIn the weeks before it declared independence, the Continental Congress was already at work building the institutions it would need to maintain the new republic. In June 1776, a committee was appointed to explore linking the 13 provincial legislatures in a Confederation. Another was tasked to consider how the United Colonies, soon to become the United States of America, could protect itself against Great Britain by striking treaties with European powers. But before these committees were formed, the Congress first appointed a "Committee on Spies" to deal with a chronic problem: how the law should treat "persons giving intelligence to the enemy, or supplying them with provisions." The resolutions that were the Committee's answer re-defined the law of treason, substituting a new notion of American sovereignty in place of the allegiance that had been owed the British monarchy. They drew a bright line between those lukewarm or hostile to the Revolution, and the new American identity embraced by its supporters. And they placed limits on the military's ability to try civilians charged with spying by court-martial, setting a precedent for American military justice. This paper argues that the impact of the Committee's work has been under-examined, as has been its influence on George Washington and the evolving American policy of military deference to civil authority in matters of justice. It explores how the Committee's "Resolves" prompted the creation of new treason statutes in nearly all the United "States," which in turn prompted hundreds of prosecutions. The paper revises scholars' views on how and why the Spies Committee was formed. It traces the Committee's contribution to language incorporated by the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution's article on treason, drafted 13 years later by a scholar who had been a Spies Committee member. | ||
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_aHOW THE COMMITTEE ON SPIES TOOK SHAPE _xTHE FAR SHORE - NEW TREASON STATUTES IN ACTION, 1776-1778 _xFLAGRANT INJUSTICE _xTHE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS' COMMITTEE _xTHE COURT MARTIAL POLICIES |
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_aIntelligence and National Security : _gVol. 37, No 5, August 2022, pp. 651-666 (99) |
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_uhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2021.2019915 _zClick here for full text |
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