cases, the Supreme Court only has appellate jurisdiction. Article III, Section 3, paragraph 1 says that treason against the United States only exists in creating war against them or giving comfort and aid to the enemies of the U.S. The only way someone can be convicted of treason is if two witnesses testify “to the same overt act” (“The Constitution of the United States”), or if the person on trial confesses in open court. Article IV, Section 3, paragraph one states that new states cannot be formed within any states, by the jurisdiction on two or more states, or by parts of the states “without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the congress” (“The Constitution of the United States”).
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, and was the 10th son to a soap and candle maker. He was mainly self-taught, and never attended college. Franklin served as an apprentice to his father, then later worked for his half-brother (a printer). He worked as a printer, and served as deputy postmaster of Philadelphia and the colonies. In 1751 Franklin was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. He helped negotiate many treaties including the peace treaty between Britain and America which ended the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where he took a public stand against slavery, pushed for the colonies to break away from Britain, Revised the Constitution, and gave the Rising Sun Speech to persuade the delegates to sign the Constitution. Franklin retired in 1788 and died in 1790 at the age of 84.