Memorable Trials in U.S. History Quiz

Answer: nineteen

In addition to the nineteen who were hanged, four accused witches died in prison, and one man was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial. Over a hundred others were arrested and charged with witchcraft. All remaining defendants were released in May of 1693 by order of the Massachusetts Governor, Sir William Phips.

Basic legal protections we take for granted today, such as the right to legal counsel and the right to appeal, were not available to these unfortunate defendants. The speed of the whole process can be seen by the fact that the cases started in early 1692, and the last of the hangings took place on September 22nd of that same year.

Answer: jury nullification

Zenger was a New York newspaperman who was charged with the crime of seditious libel for printing a document critical of the Governor of New York. Zenger's lawyer put the law itself on trial, and when the jury came back with a not guilty verdict, the case became known as one of the first cases of jury nullification in American history.

Answer: Aaron Burr

Burr's lawyer had a subpoena issued for President Thomas Jefferson to turn over certain documents which Burr felt were needed for his defense. The trial Judge, Chief Justice John Marshall, issued the subpoena, but Jefferson balked. Marshall, a political opponent of Jefferson, stood his ground and Jefferson eventually complied with the subpoena.

The most famous claim of executive privilege was in 1974, when President Richard Nixon resisted the efforts of the Watergate special prosecutor to obtain the audiotapes of Oval Office conversations. This dispute went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which accepted the idea that there is a privilege, but held that it is not absolute. Nixon was ordered to turn over the tapes, and he resigned in disgrace a few days later.

Answer: four

The eight were tried before a military tribunal, a controversial decision since the war was already over by the time of the crime. All eight were convicted, and four of them were executed on July 7, 1865, less than three months after the crime. The other four were given prison sentences.

The most controversial execution was of Mary Surratt, who ran a boardinghouse where the conspirators frequently lodged when in Washington, DC. President Johnson allowed her execution to proceed, even though five of the nine members of the military Commission had recommended that her sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

Another case of continuing controversy is that of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth. Mudd was in prison until being released in 1869, and his descendants are still trying to clear his name.

Answer: four

This was a real black mark in the history of American jurisprudence. The protesters were meeting in Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest the killing of two workers by police the day before. The rally was peaceful until police decided to try to disperse the crowd. In the ensuing confusion, a bomb was thrown into police ranks, killing seven officers.

Eight Chicago labor supporters were tried for killing one of the officers, even though there was no evidence linking them directly to the bombing. Seven of the eight were convicted and sentenced to death. Two of the convicted seven were pardoned by the Governor, and one committed suicide, leaving four to be hanged on November 11, 1887.

An 1893 report issued by Governor Altgeld condemned the trial as grossly unfair, and the judgment of history is in agreement with this conclusion.

Answer: Fall River, Massachusetts

Lizzie was prosecuted almost solely because her actions seemed suspicious. There was a complete lack of physical evidence, incredible for such bloody murders, and the jury acquitted her after only an hour and a half of deliberations. Lizzie died in 1927 in Fall river, and is buried there. The house where the murders occurred is now a bed and breakfast.

Answer: President Harding ordered his release

President Warren G. Harding ordered Debs released on Christmas Day, 1921, and invited him to the White House. While in prison, Debs ran for President for the fifth time in 1920, receiving 919,000 votes, or 3.5% of the total votes cast in that election.

Answer: The jury, not the judge, should have decided the amount of the fine.

The higher court rejected all of the defense's constitutional arguments for reversal, and instead decided the case on a very narrow and technical ground. Tennessee law required any fine of more than $50.00 to be set by a jury, not a judge, so the Court ruled that Scopes' $100.00 fine was improperly assessed.

The Supreme Court then recommended that Scopes not be retried, citing the benefit to the "peace and dignity of the state" that would result from dropping the case. The Attorney General promptly dropped it as suggested.

Answer: two and a half years

While the kidnapping took place on March 1, 1932, it wasn't until September 18, 1934, that the police were able to trace a ransom bill back to a particular individual. Bruno Hauptmann was then arrested after more than $14,000 of the ransom money ($50,000) was found on his property, and he was eventually executed on April 3, 1937.

Doubt persists as to Hauptmann's guilt. He maintained his innocence to the end, and even turned down a chance to avoid the death penalty by confessing to the crime. Ludovic Kennedy's book "The Airman and the Carpenter" (published in 1985) argues passionately for Hauptmann's innocence.

Answer: Bobby Seale

Bobby Seale was upset that Judge Julius Hoffman refused to postpone the trial so that Seale could have his own lawyer there to represent him. Seale yelled insults at the judge, resulting in his being first bound and gagged, and later removed from the trial and sent to jail for contempt of court. Five of the remaining seven defendants were convicted of some of the charges, but all convictions were reversed on appeal, and the Justice Department wisely decided to let the matter drop.