Less gruesome??? Hanging repeatedly to the point of losing consciousness, disembowelment and dismemberment, drawing the still living victim tied to a horse over cobblestone roads to the place of quartering as you have pictured. This 'sentence' was without a doubt the cruelest ever conceived by the twisted mind of man. Since the crown of England was also the head of the Anglican Church, one could be accused of both treason and heresy, simultaneously.

These punishments of torture were well known to the Framers of our Constitution. Hence, the Bill of Rights guarantee of freedom of speech, freedom of and from religion, freedom of the press. Guarantees of the 4th Amendment right to privacy against unreasonable searches and seizures. The right to a trial, due process, against self-incrimination, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The horrors of jolly-ole-England were the inspiration for the founding of American democracy. To that, we owe sad gratitude to all of those people who died such horrible deaths so that we may not.