McFreedom

Over at the USS Clueless, Mr. Den Beste is involved in a battle of wits with an unarmed combatant.. Specifically, he quoted the original poster, "magullo" on Meta Filter, as saying, "[Hamdi] is an American, fighting invading American troops in foreign soil. I'm going to go with freedom of speech here. He has the same right to violently oppose the American invasion of Afghanistan as the U.S. has the right to violently invade Afghanistan in the first place." Hamdi, of course, was the American citizen of Saudi decent who hasn't seen the US since he was a baby, and took up arms against it in Afghanistan. When he ended up at Camp X-Ray, he said (foolishly), "I can't be a prisoner of war, I'm a US citizen!" At which point he was moved to civil custody and will presumably be tried for treason.

When Mr. Den Beste blasted Magullo's argument for its idiocy ("violently oppos[ing]" the US is somehow protected speech...?), an anonymous reader of his wrote in to observe:

It IS true that Hamdi is, legally, a citizen. It IS true that he pretty clearly disagreed with certain US policies. And you can quote the Founding Fathers for days on end with examples of them supporting citizens taking up arms against the government. No, you're not allowed to say "but he isn't a REAL American". "Real" Americans aren't for you to decide.

Mr. Den Beste touches on the treason clause in the constitution, but the mention of the Founding Fathers and treason put me in mind of the story of Major John André. The Major was a young, promising English officer during the revolutionary war. One of his duties was to search for American officers who might be willing to trade sides; in this duty, he discovered Benedict Arnold. As the final plans were being drawn up for General Arnold to surrender his command at West Point essentially without a fight, Major André was captured by three Americans. He was wearing an American uniform. André offered his captors a purse of gold to allow him to continue on his way, but they refused, and searched him. He had documents revealing the entire plan in his boot, and was recognized as a spy. Sadly, General Arnold got word of the capture and was able to slip away.

A military tribunal was convened. The court martial declared that Major André "[O]ught to be considered as a spy from the enemy... [H]e changed his dress within our lines... [H]e had in his possession several papers which contained intelligence for the enemy; and that agreeable to the laws and usages of nations, it is [our] opinion he ought to suffer death." [1] Despite evidence that it was a series of minor mistakes which ended up with the Major behind American lines in an American uniform, they felt that it was very important that the proper precedent be set in this case, especially in a nation so young. It is also not beyond the realm of speculation that the tribunal had Nathan Hale's recent hanging by the British under similar circumstances in mind.

Major André was by all accounts well-liked, on both sides of the conflict. The British made diplomatic efforts both to retrieve him. General Washington replied that he would be willing to trade André for General Arnold, but the British were unwilling to make such a trade. Several on Washington's staff, including General Lafeyette and Alexander Hamilton argued that André's life should be spared, because of his character. "Washington dismissed the requests as sentimental, pointing out that if André had succeeded in his mission, it might very well have turned the tide of the war." [2]

André, now resigned to his death and concerned about his place in history, wrote a letter to Washington asking that he at least be put in front of the firing line as befit an officer, rather than be hung as a spy:

TAPPAN, 1ST OCTOBER 1780

SIR

Buoyed above the Terror of Death by the Consciousness of a Life devoted to honorable pursuits and stained with no Action that can give me Remorse, I trust the request I make to your Excellency at this serious period and which is to soften my last moments will not be rejected.

Sympathy towards a Soldier will surely induce Your Excellency and a military Tribunal to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings of a man of honour.

Let me hope Sir, that if ought in my character impresses you with esteem towards me, if ought in my misfortunes marks me as the Victim of policy and not of resentment, I shall experience the operation of these Feelings in your Breast by being informed that I am not to die on a Gibbet.

I have the honour to be Your Excellency's Most obedient and most humble Servant

John André, Adj. Gen. to the Brit. Army

Washington's staff was much moved by this simple request, and thought that Major André should be given the firing line. Washington responded that "André, regardless of his personal attractiveness, was no more and no less than a spy." [2] At Washington's order, André was hung at noon the next day. The three soldiers who had refused André's bribes to look the other way were each rewarded by Congress with its thanks, a silver medal, and $200 annually for the rest of their lives.

The Founding Fathers were not idiots. They supported freedom first and foremost, and they recognized that haters of freedom are constantly trying to take it away. When such people merely wish to talk, I believe the Founding Fathers would not have prevented them. But when such people wish to take up arms against the most free state in the world, I am confident that the Founding Fathers would agree with me that we should resist them with every means available to us. And if such people are US citizens, they are clearly traitors.