Bribery did not become a US federal crime until 1789.

[LiberalFighter]

After the Constitution was adopted. Yet it is one of the reasons provided to impeach.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Sheesh. No wonder tRump and Barr don't know when it is shown to them. Such a new-fangled thing

So new it must be progressive.

[StarfishSaver]

2. So much for the "You can't impeach without an underlying felony" argument.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Exactly why I posted it.

There was something I heard and checked it out to see if there might be something here.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. I wonder who the scumbag was that caused that to be written in and adopted.

[hlthe2b]

5. That's because there was no criminal code when the Constitution was adopted!

Good gawd.

Constitution adopted in June 21, 1788
First Criminal Code (Crimes Act of 1790) adopted April 30, 1790


Does that mean there were no acts that were illegal in the time between or even BEFORE the Constitution was written/adopted? Of course not.

I don't get the point these anti-impeachment RWers are trying to make with this.

[jberryhill]

7. I will say this

This thread inspired me to take a look at the Articles of Confederation for the first time, literally, in decades!

[hedda_foil]

8. There was no federal state before the Constitution was ratified by the states.

individual State laws governed all crimes under the Articles of Confederation.

[hlthe2b]

9. Of course.

[jberryhill]

6. not sure I understand that

Nothing was a US federal crime until 1789. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress didn't even have the power to define federal crimes.

There also wasn't a federal court until 1789 that would be around to conduct any federal trials.