page_title: Hanging in the United States
section_title: Colonial America
hierarchical_section_title: Hanging in the United States / Colonial America
caption_attribution_description: English: This illustration depicts the execution of Ann Hibbins on Boston Common in 1656.
context_page_description: Hanging has been practiced legally in the United States of America from before the nation's birth, up to 1972 when the United States Supreme Court found capital punishment to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Four years later, the Supreme Court overturned its previous ruling, and in 1976, capital punishment was again legalized in the United States. As of 2020, three states have laws that specify hanging as an available secondary method of execution.
context_section_description: Hanging was one method of execution in Colonial America. According to the Espy file, Daniel Frank was hanged in 1623 for cattle theft in the Jamestown colony. John Billington is thought to be one of the first men to be hanged in New England; Billington was convicted of murder in September 1630 after he shot and killed John Newcomen.
  During the Salem witch trials of the early 1690s, most of the men and women convicted of witchcraft were sentenced to public hanging. It is estimated that seventeen women and two men were hanged as a result of the trials. However, modern scholars maintain that thousands of individuals were hanged for witchcraft throughout the American colonies.
  Hangings during the colonial era of America were mostly performed publicly in order to deter the behavior for which the criminals were hanged. Thousands of townspeople would gather around the gallows to hear a sermon and observe the hangings of convicted criminals. Such experiences were deemed to be good lessons on morality for the children and townspeople.
caption: Execution of Ann Hibbins on Boston Common, June 19, 1656. Sketch by F.T. Merril, 1886
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