Every card states a verified claim from the GG Co. Investigates segment “The Dead Letter” — treason in America: the crime, the record, and the statutes charged instead. Each claim is tiered to primary or reputable secondary sources, listed on the sources page.
The word is what people say. The text is the law, or the charge. The record is what happened — and the labels matter: charged is not convicted, indicted is not tried, federal is not state, treason is not the Espionage Act, executed is not commuted is not pardoned.
The printable companion to the game at whitehouse.greatestgame.co/arcade/socialism/ — every card, its claim, and the sources.
What treason is, and everything it isn’t.
1 crime the Constitution defines by name
Every other federal crime is defined by statute; treason is defined in Article III, §3.
Verified claim TR-A1 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: the only crime the Constitution itself defines
2 acts: levying war, or adhering to enemies, giving them aid and comfort
Codified at 18 U.S.C. §2381. The word “only” is in the Constitution.
Verified claim TR-A2 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: Two branches; the word "only" is in the text
2 witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in open court
The only crime whose evidentiary standard is written into the Constitution. It governs conviction, not charging.
Verified claim TR-A3 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: two Witnesses to the same overt Act
0 critics, opponents or journalists who qualify as “enemies”
A term of art: the forces or government of a foreign nation the United States is in open or declared war with.
Verified claim TR-A5 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: A domestic critic, opponent, or journalist is categorically not an "enemy."
1807 Aaron Burr acquitted; “levying war” narrowed to an actual assemblage
Ex parte Bollman and the Burr trial: an actual assemblage of men for a treasonable purpose — not conspiracy, procuring or advising.
Verified claim TR-A6 T1 · also TR-B1 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: Ex parte Bollman, 8 U.S. 75 (1807)
≥5 years minimum, a fine of at least $10,000, and permanent disqualification from any U.S. office
Death or at least five years; the disqualification is mandatory and permanent. All of it attaches only at conviction.
Verified claim TR-A4 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: death, or ≥5 years imprisonment + ≥$10,000 fine
How few.
3 early treason convictions, each ended by a presidential pardon
Whiskey Rebellion (Washington) and Fries’s Rebellion (Adams, after a retrial). The young republic could convict for treason and chose mercy each time.
Verified claim TR-B2 T1 · also TR-B3 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: convicted of treason, then pardoned
Dec. 25, 1868 general amnesty, Proclamation 179
No mass treason prosecutions of Confederates. Davis was indicted; the “Christmas Amnesty” ended it. Indicted is not tried.
Verified claim TR-B4 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: amnesty proclamation of Dec. 25, 1868
5–4 Supreme Court reversal; two public meetings were insufficient overt acts
The first treason conviction the Court ever reviewed. Cramer had been sentenced to 45 years, not death; the sentence fell with the conviction.
Verified claim TR-B5 T1 · also TR-B6 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: REVERSED Anthony Cramer's treason conviction 5-4
1947 the first Supreme-Court-sustained treason conviction; affirmed 8–1
Sheltering, financing a car for, and helping employ his saboteur son were sufficient overt acts. Life plus $10,000.
Verified claim TR-B7 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: Haupt v. United States, 330 U.S. 631 (1947)
6 Americans convicted for Axis broadcasting; one commuted (1963), one pardoned (1977)
Chandler, Best, Gillars, Toguri, Monti, Burgman. Provoo’s 1952 conviction was overturned on appeal. Label each outcome.
Verified claim TR-B8 T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: six American civilians convicted of treason for wartime Axis broadcasting
1952 last treason conviction that stood; affirmed 4–3
Death commuted to life (1953); released and deported (1963). Last sustained — Provoo’s was overturned, so never a bare “last ever.”
Verified claim TR-B9 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: June 2, 1952
<40 prosecutions in 230+ years, by conflicting reference tallies; convictions in the low dozens
“Exactly 30” traces to no primary source. No one has ever been executed under a valid federal Article III treason conviction.
Verified claim TR-B10 T2 · also TR-B11 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: fewer than 40 prosecutions
2006 the only U.S. treason charge since the WWII era; killed in a January 2015 strike
Charged is not convicted. The federal treason docket has been empty since.
Verified claim TR-B12 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: indicted for treason Oct. 11, 2006
The behavior didn’t disappear. It moved.
1953 executed June 19, for conspiracy to commit espionage, not treason
The Second Circuit held espionage needs no “enemy” element. The charge also bypassed the two-witness safeguard.
Verified claim TR-D1 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: executed June 19, 1953
35 years, July 30, 2013; commuted January 2017
Convicted under the Espionage Act; acquitted of “aiding the enemy” (UCMJ Art. 104); not charged with treason.
Verified claim TR-D2 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: sentenced 35 yrs
June 14, 2013 Espionage Act charges plus theft (§641); not treason
Never tried; Russian citizenship granted Sept. 26, 2022. Charged is not convicted.
Verified claim TR-D3 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: charged June 14, 2013 under the Espionage Act
18 defendants charged with seditious conspiracy; 10 convicted at trial, 4 pleaded, 4 acquitted of that count
§2384 needs no levying war, no enemies, no two witnesses. The two group leaders drew 18 and 22 years.
Verified claim TR-D4 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: The DOJ charged 18 Jan-6 defendants with seditious conspiracy
2 counts on the 2006 superseding indictment: treason, plus material support
The substitute rides beside the original on the one modern treason charge.
Verified claim TR-D6 T2 · also TR-B12 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: material support for terrorism (18 U.S.C. §2339A/B — Gadahn's second count)
1955 U.S. v. Batchelor: a repatriated POW charged under Arts. 104/105/134, not treason
Death-eligible; applies to “any person.” Disloyalty in uniform is charged here.
Verified claim TR-C7 T2 · also TR-C6 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: United States v. Batchelor (Army Board of Review, 1955)
§2382 failing to report known treason to the authorities
One statute in the ecosystem the crime’s conduct was relocated into. A line of the code, not a verdict on anyone.
Verified claim TR-D6 T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: misprision of treason (18 U.S.C. §2382 — failing to report known treason)
Dec. 2, 1859 hanged after a five-day state trial; seven raiders in all
The most famous treason execution in American history was a state prosecution. Federal, state and military are three dockets.
Verified claim TR-C3 T1 — the number is read from the claim's own words: hanged Dec. 2, 1859
0 legal consequences of calling a critic’s work “treason”
Press criticism and dissent fall outside both prongs; a domestic critic is not an “enemy.” Presidents have hurled the word for two centuries with the same result.
Verified claim TR-E1 T1/T2 — the number is read from the claim's own words: carries no legal consequence
Tiers: T1 primary / official / court / statute · T2 reputable secondary, academic, or major encyclopedia · T3 single-secondary / press. This names sources; it does not host them.
Compiled from the verified claim set of “The Dead Letter”, a GG Co. Investigates subject (an independent, adversarially-verified research pass, reconciled into a tiered claim set; contested figures and every “last / first / only” carried a verification panel). This page cites claim ids and quotes only the fragment each number was read from; the full register lives with the segment. It reports the verified legal record; it does not adjudicate any living person or characterise any contemporary act as treason. Only adjudicated, public-record defendants are named. The plate beside each row is the card's face in the game: an object plate drawn for the studio, or a public-domain photograph.