Law & Government in Colonial America

Law & Government in

Colonial AmericaAshanti Callender

7A2ID2

Some crimes committed in colonial America still exist

today.

Many crimes thought of as serious during the Colonial Era, would not be thought of as serious today.

Public drunkenness and hog theft were considered major crimes.

Another major crime was going against the government. In Colonial America, that meant going against the King.

Crime in Colonial America

Colonial Courts

The Colonial court system was informal and simple, but still followed the court systems in England.

The law was a set of rules made to help with colonial life.

There was usually one judge who heard all of the concerns of the colonists.

The court was involved with making decisions about social and economic life.

Fines

Physical Punishment

Pillory

Stocks

Whipping Post

Ducking Stool

Types of Punishment

Courts awarded fines for many civil crimes.

Fines were a way of avoiding crueler punishments.

If convicted stealing a hog colonists were fined ten pounds.

Fines in Courts

Physical punishments were often used, for

felonies and for the poor, who could not afford to pay fines.

A person convicted of hog stealing was lashed twenty- five times on a whipping post.

In addition to the ten pound fine, there was a fine of four-hundred pounds of tobacco to be shared by the owner and the informant.

Physical Punishments

Pillory

The pillory was used to publicly humiliate a person who committed a crime.

The public threw items like fruits and vegetables at the criminal for harmless crimes.

For more serious infractions, items such as rocks and other hard items were thrown at the criminal.

This punishment lasted from a few hours to several days.

Stocks

The stocks were wooden frames with holes for the criminals’ feet.

Stocks were primarily used to hold criminals while awaiting trial.

At other times, the public would throw items at them like in the pillory, but the criminals could defend themselves with their hands.

Whipping Post

Whipping was one of the most common punishments handed out by the courts.

The wealthy got out of this punishment by paying a fine, but the poor were usually whipped.

The whipping post has shackles on the sides of the post.

The criminal was strapped to the post and was whipped.

Ducking Stool

This form of punishment was used for minor crimes.

The criminal was strapped into a chair and dunked into water.

During colonial times, a person’s status or

social class was the main factor in determining the harshness of their punishment.

The two major classes during this time period were the higher class and the servant class.

The people in the higher class sometimes received a less harsh punishment for the same crime than a person in the servant class.

Social Status

Colonial law and government differed from the

law and government we have today.

Our government is more complex and formal.

The punishments we have today does not include publicly punishing the criminal.

Some of the punishments in Colonial times would be considered cruel and unusual today.

Conclusion

Blomberg, T.G., Lucken, K. (2010). American

penology: a history of control. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ.

http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/colonial_court/html/colonial.html

References