English, Department of
Date of this Version
1976
Abstract
This article traces the legislative history of statutes prescribing the death penalty for sodomy in 17th-century New England and in the other American colonies. New England and some middle colonies broke with English legal tradition by adopting explicitly biblical language. After the Revolution, Pennsylvania took the lead, in 1786, in dropping the death penalty.
Comments
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 1(3), 1976. Used by permission.