title: Homosexuals and the death penalty in colonial America.
abstract: This article traces the legislative history of statues prescribing the death penalty for sodomy in 17th-century New England and in the other American colonies. New England and some middle colonies broke with English legal tradition by adopting explicitly biblical language. After the Revolution, Pennsylvania took the lead, in 1786, in dropping the death penalty.
mesh_terms: D002203:Capital Punishment / Q000266:history*; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014481:United States