Losing State v. Mann

Today in class we discussed the case from 1829, State v. Mann, which was about how a slave owner had rented a slave and then shot her in the back. It was not his property, and he was fined ten dollars, but refused to pay and took it back to the courts. He ended up winning the case and the State paid him back five dollars. The opposing team had some interesting arguments for Mann, such as the property issue, the original owner has damage costs, slavery is legal, and battery cannot be committed when it is a slave. They say that the judge at the district level broke the law. As for our team, we say he did not have the right shot her because it was not his property, the morality of the issue, and religion.

We sadly lost the case because under the First Amendment they could not favor us. The court could not break the law, so it could not go in favor of us. This experience taught me how to research and find out things and ways to fight against the court. The first time this case went to court, it made people think about the religion and the moral issues. This case is a very hard one to win, it all is about the moral issues and how it is wrong, it all depends on if the judge will take that into more consideration.

This case taught me how to keep my mouth shut sometimes when people make arguments. In all honesty I feel ours was better, we seemed to have more evidence and more examples but it was easier for them because they had the upper hand with the law. I learned a lot more about the Bible, and how cruel it can be too. There was nothing straight out saying slavery is right, but there were some arguments about how it was immoral. Overall, this case was hard to win, but it did teach me how to research more, and take on something that you have to create by yourself.


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