John Hancock's Signatory To The Declaration Of Independence
John Hancock—a signatory to the Declaration of Independence—and leaders such as William Bradford and Thomas Paine carefully read Beccaria’s writings, too. A former Pennsylvania Attorney General, Bradford penned An Enquiry How Far the
Punishment of Death Is Necessary in Pennsylvania in 1793 that echoed many of
Beccaria’s arguments (Bessler, 2009). Bradford questioned the necessity of capital punishment and argued for the elimination of it for all offenses except high treason and murder until more information could be obtained. Paine, like Dr. Rush, was an ardent abolitionist. He opposed Louis XVI’s execution and regretted the French Assembly’s vote to impose a death sentence (BENJAMIN RUSH, LETTERS; L.H. Butterfield ed., 1951). In 1793, in a speech before a joint session of the legislature, Massachusetts governor John Hancock also asked legislators to follow Beccaria’s call for less discretion in sentencing.
Thomas Jefferson was especially fascinated by Beccaria’s ideas. Between 1774 and 1776, Thomas Jefferson—the drafter of the Declaration of Independence— felt conflicted and remorseful over the execution of the French king and queen, seeing death as unnecessary. In a draft autobiography written in 1821, Jefferson laid out his feelings: “The deed which closed the mortal course of these sovereigns, I shall neither approve nor condemn. I am not prepared …show more content…
president, actually copied twenty-six different passages from Beccaria’s text into his Commonplace Book by hand. Jefferson drafted three proposals for Virginia’s constitution that would have curtailed the death penalty’s use, and the Declaration of
Independence famously recites the “inalienable” right to life. While Jefferson was part of a committee that expanded the death penalty’s availability in wartime, he also became a member of the Virginia Committee of Revisors for legal reform, drafting a bill for Virginia’s legislature specifically calling for proportionate punishments
Punishment of Death Is Necessary in Pennsylvania in 1793 that echoed many of
Beccaria’s arguments (Bessler, 2009). Bradford questioned the necessity of capital punishment and argued for the elimination of it for all offenses except high treason and murder until more information could be obtained. Paine, like Dr. Rush, was an ardent abolitionist. He opposed Louis XVI’s execution and regretted the French Assembly’s vote to impose a death sentence (BENJAMIN RUSH, LETTERS; L.H. Butterfield ed., 1951). In 1793, in a speech before a joint session of the legislature, Massachusetts governor John Hancock also asked legislators to follow Beccaria’s call for less discretion in sentencing.
Thomas Jefferson was especially fascinated by Beccaria’s ideas. Between 1774 and 1776, Thomas Jefferson—the drafter of the Declaration of Independence— felt conflicted and remorseful over the execution of the French king and queen, seeing death as unnecessary. In a draft autobiography written in 1821, Jefferson laid out his feelings: “The deed which closed the mortal course of these sovereigns, I shall neither approve nor condemn. I am not prepared …show more content…
president, actually copied twenty-six different passages from Beccaria’s text into his Commonplace Book by hand. Jefferson drafted three proposals for Virginia’s constitution that would have curtailed the death penalty’s use, and the Declaration of
Independence famously recites the “inalienable” right to life. While Jefferson was part of a committee that expanded the death penalty’s availability in wartime, he also became a member of the Virginia Committee of Revisors for legal reform, drafting a bill for Virginia’s legislature specifically calling for proportionate punishments