The colonists had been at war with the British government several years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, their efforts were not fruitful. General Washington had suffered many staggering defeats. But, on July 4th 1776, John Handcock signed the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson. It was published and read aloud in the city streets. It was now official. The colonists had cut their ties with England. General Washington had the Declaration of Independence read to the Continental Army, and the following week he crossed the Delaware river and exercised an astounding defeat of the British at the Battle of Trenton. However, the war would last until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. Understand, the US Constitution had not been ratified yet. The drafting of the US Constitution would begin on May 25, 1787 and end on September 17, 1787. The ratification would begin the next day and each state would have to approve the law individually. On September 13, 1788 thee US Congress certifies the US Constitution has been duly ratified by all states. The State of Rhode Island being the hold out did not ratify the US Constitution until 1790. Thus, the Federal government was officially formed on September 13, 1788. Elections are held, and quorums would begin to stand up, and General Washington assumes the office of the President of the United States on April 30 1789.

Article III of the US Constitution establishes the Judicial Branch. The courts.

The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Article III Section 2 The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases ……..to all Cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; The case against Thomas Bird involved this maritime jurisdiction

Thus, the actual mechanics of how the courts will be set up and operate must be provided by the newly formed Congress. Senate Bill number one of the first session of the Congress became the Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789. .

The Judiciary Act of 1789 would set the stage for the first execution of a human being in United States history. Thomas Bird, an Englishman would be the first man to be executed by the Government of the United States of America . [1]

Thomas Bird was an Englishman born in Abbots Leigh, England. His parents were wealthy enough to send him to school, but he chose to run off to sea with his uncle at 8 years old. Sounds like sometime right out of a Robert Louis Stevenson novel. He spent most of his early years as a seaman on boats working the slave trade off the Ivory cost of Africa (Guinea). During the revolutionary war he shipped on several ships of the line for England and the United States, being captured and released many times over the course of the war (prisoner exchanges). Thomas Bird was a good sailor, but he was illiterate. His final voyage was aboard the Mary which was a schooner. The Mary was about 50 feet in length with a 5 foot draft. The Mary was mastered by a man named Captain John Connor, who had a reputation of extreme violence toward his crew. During the 1700’s the Captains ruled like a dictator, and they could without question beat a man to death. She set sail with a crew of seven and reached Africa around Christmas of 1787. The slave trade was not easy. It depended on tribes warring against each other. When one tribe would conquer the other, the victorious party would sell the prisoners to the slave traders. The slave trading ships would exchange their goods from England for slaves. Thus, because slave trading depended a lot on crime and war, slaves were not always available. So, the crew of the Mary went in and out of ports along the Ivory coast trading goods for the few slaves they could find. During this time, do to Captain Connors brutality several crew members jumped ship and never returned. Captain Conner had beaten one man to death for sleeping on his watch. The crew had disintegrated to only a handful of members. On January 23rd 1789 Captain John Connor beat Thomas Bird senseless with ropes for not being able to untangle the anchor rode underneath some barrels of rum, and Thomas Bird was not the only person to have been beaten by the Captain on occasion. So, the Captain retired to his sleeping quarters on the night of the 23rd and was murdered in his sleep in the Bay of Guinea off the Ivory coast of Africa. Thomas Bird confessed to the crime. Thomas Bird, with a crew member named Huddy, and another named Hanson discharged the Captain's body overboard and the Captain was never heard of again. The ship laden with goods was sailing for Portland Maine under the new Master Josiah Jackson, an American and the only remaining crew member capable of open water navigation. Jackson claims to have been sleeping at the bow, near the anchor while the crime was committed.

The Mary, with Josiah Jackson now acting as the master, arrived at what is now Willard Beach, Maine and dropped anchor, 4 months after leaving Africa. Josiah Jackson, being an American, had relatives in the area. After dropping anchor, Jackson apparently left to stay with his brother, and the remaining crew began trading their cargo and making friends with the inhabitants of the area. They were well received. They told sailor stories, socialized, and traded goods with the colonists in the area for several days. However, someone was suspicious and went and told the Naval Officer and collector of customs, who was Nathaniel Fardre Fosdick, about the arrival. Revenue laws prevented the undocumented trade the colonists were engaged in with the crew of the Mary. Fosdick rode immediately to Willard Beach, but the crew had already left the area with assistance from the colonist, and to his amazement the colonist would not help him out. Fosdick returned to Portland, Maine and gathered a crew and two ships to track down the smugglers. They set sail the next day. They caught the crew of the Mary anchored in Cape Porpoise, Maine just 25 miles south. Fosdick captured the vessel and crew and returned to Portland, Maine and impounded the vessel on July 22nd 1789 with the court. They turned the crew, Jackson, Hanson, Bird, and Cuffy ( a little African boy they acquired in their last port of call off the Ivory Coast) over to the country shieff, who was Colonel John Waite. Bird, Hanson, & Jackson were charged by the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. At this time, Maine was part of Massachusetts and had not split into a state. Their crime was feloniously and pyratically stealing and running away with a 30 ton vessel. Their statements were taken.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had passed laws regarding acts of piracy in 1783, and an Admiralty Judge of the several states would be assigned to conduct the trial. However, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was signed into law on September 24, 1789. Thus, transferring jurisdiction over to the United States Government, and the Federal District Court of Maine would handle the trial. On the 26th of September, 1789, President George Washington would commision David Sewall, from York, Maine, as the Federal District Judge of Maine. The other court officers commissioned by George Washington were US Marshall Henry Dearborn , namesake of Dearborn Michigan, District Attorney William Lithgow, Jr., Clerk of the court Henry Sewall, Judge David Sewall’s cousin. All men were former officers in the revolutionary war.

At the second session of Judge Sewall's district court, he summoned a grand jury and if they chose to indict, Bird and Hanson would go to trial. Bird and Hanson were English and had implicated themselves during their initial statements, which by the way were never signed by them. On June 1st, 1790 US Attorney Lithgow presented the case to the Grand Jury, and they chose to indict both parties. Marshall Dearborn escorted both parties to the courthouse to hear the indictment against them. They both pleaded not guilty.

The trial began on June 4th, 1790 with an extremely large crowd. John Frothingham and William Symmes were assigned to the accused. Josiah Jackson was a witness. The jury of 12 people rendered a verdict of Not-guilty for Hanson and a guilty verdict for Thomas Bird.

Thomas Bird who was an English citizen, on an English vessel, was found guilty of killing an English Captain, far from the territorial waters of the United States, somewhere near Africa but the exact place was undetermined.

The defense appealed on the following grounds,
The Indictment did not include against the peace and dignity of the United States as should do
The place where the crime was committed was uncertain
The Bill against Bird was not found by jurors of the United States.[1]

Judge Seawall denied the appeal. Then,the defense appealed to President George Washington for a pardon. Upon receiving the letter from Thomas Bird, President George Washington sent a letter to Supreme Court justice John Jay for advice, Supreme Court justice John Jay responed,

Dear Sir
There does not appear to be a single Circumstance in the Case of the murderer in question, to recommend a Pardon—His own Petition contains no averment of Innocence, no Palliative for Guilt, no complaint of Court Jury or witnesses, nor of the want of witnesses. >he Silence of the british cabinet on the Subject of Mr Morris’s Letters marks their Indicision—it may arise from Doubts of what might be the opinion of Parliamt on some of the commercial, and perhaps other Points; and the Expediency of observing the caution and Delay which such Doubts may prescribe, with perfect Respect Esteem & attachment I am Dear Sir your most obt & hble Servant
John Jay

President George Washington declined to pardon Thomas Bird nor suspend the execution. On the Morning of Friday, June 25th, 1790 US Marshall Henry Dearborn arrived at the jail sometime in the afternoon to escort Thomas Bird to his final destination. It is estimated that a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people walked with the condemned man to Hagget’s Hill where the gallows had been constructed since 1772. They sang religious christian spirituals along the route.

Thomas Bird, , was laid to rest in Portland’s Eastern Cemetery. He was buried in an unmarked grave.