It is worth noting here that during the colonial period, slave rebels were tried for high treason (slaves who murdered their masters were tried for petit treason). Everyone in the king's domains -- free or slave -- was a subject of the king and so owed that absolute allegiance the breach of which was treason. So the case of Billy reflects a revolutionary break with the English legal system -- treason in America is a crime only of citizens. At the same time, one might note that, while Americans ceased defining slave rebellion as a form of treason, they still treated it as such in the area of punishments: hanging, dismemberment and open-air display of severed heads and other body parts as gruesome warnings. David Kiracofe College of Charleston Department of History 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html