Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

2-4-2010

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory

Abstract

Many charges were made in the early decades of Virginias adherence to the federal union that membership on the states federal court grand juries was often granted for overt political reasons By exploring three notorious instances the 1797 grand jury presentment of Jeffersonian Congressman Samuel J Cabell the 1800 indictment of Jeffersonian propagandist James Thompson Callendar and the 1807 indictment of former Jeffersonian Vice President Aaron Burr it is shown that the charges were very likely true The article also provides background information on the importance of petit and grand juries in the early Republic

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