Treason is the only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution, which states: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”
The Founders borrowed this language from the law of Edward III of England. Enacted in 1350 A.D., Edward III’s statute also criminalized “compassing or imagining” the death of the king, sexually violating certain women in the royal household, counterfeiting the great seal or coinage of the realm and murdering certain royal officials—offenses that would not make sense to consider treasonous in a republic.
The U.S. Constitution also requires “the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act” or “Confession in open Court” in order to obtain a conviction. The requirement of an “overt Act” was intended to preclude judges or politicians from using treason trials to go after political opponents, as had been common in early modern England. Indeed, for centuries British monarchs had coerced judges into condemning political opponents to death based on spurious evidence or flimsy allegations, often rooted in the claim that the “traitor” had compassed or imagined the death of the king.
