State v. Mann
In class, we divided in two teams and performed a mock trial of the famous "State v. Mann" case for the class, either defending John Mann or the slave he injured. I was put on the legal team that was defending John Mann. My task was to state an overview on the pro-slavery side of this case and what was happening in slavery at this time, 1830.
At this day and age, slavery is a vital part of our Southern society. Slavery runs our economy, our history, and our politics as well as many other aspects. It has changed throughout the years and has recently been altered due to the abolitionists in our country. The North and South have been debating for years which side has the best morality in the aspect of slavery. Today, we will be looking over a case involving John Mann. He is a slave master who has hired a slave and chose to whip her as punishment for her outrageous acts against him. She then ran away, and he shot her for her violation of his rules. Some people believe that this is a violation of law and is a cruel punishment to the slave that was not technically his own. While others believe he has a right to punish her how he pleases because she was hired to work with him for a year. Here is what slave laws and experiences say about slavery today.
This establishment of the cotton industry has set the standard for economy and the rest of our history, as well as the slave trade. People have been making things from cotton for years, but it has greatly increased since the making of the cotton gin a few years back in 1794. Great Britain is in desperate need for cotton as their textile industry is growing rapidly, and the South has the product for them. The selling of cotton in the South is how many of us make our income. Without the help of slaves on our plantations we would be broke. Slavery has been helping with the production and farming industry for years and has greatly increased the economy because of it. The cotton industry has increased the need for slaves which has also grown the slave trade across the globe. In the South, we buy and sell slaves from many different countries allowing them to make money and increasing our number of workers on the plantations. Slavery influences everyone and is an important aspect of a successful country.
As I said earlier, due to the abolitionists from the North, the government has made changes to slavery and how it is run. Their rules include things like slaves being solely property and nothing else, slave owners may do whatever they please with their slaves, slaves are not allowed to leave the plantation without permission, and many other laws they felt were needed. They had to clearly state slaves as property because of the abolitionist argument that they have human rights. In this case, “State v. Mann” we will see the rightful act a master has over his slave given the laws put in place on slavery at this very moment. We have lived a life where masters have sole ownership of their workers, and are in no danger of punishment because of their actions against them, why is it any different now?
Sources:
https://www.ncpedia.org/slave-codes
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent
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