The first moot trial of the year was great to see. Both teams
did a great job making arguments and supporting them referring to state laws
and the constitution. Mr. Mann’s team of lawyers stated as an argument that
slaves have no constitutional rights and that the law gives absolute power to
the owner over the slave. Since John Mann rented out the slave, Lydia, from his
neighbor, Elizabeth Jones, under contract, all owner ship was transferred to
Mr. Mann under law. Mr. Mann’s teams of
lawyers justified him shooting and wounding Lydia by referring to state law.
This state law states that if a runaway slave is caught, they must be returned
to the owner and if the sheriff catches a runaway slave, the sheriff has the
authority and right to kill the slave under the law. In this situation, since Mr. Mann had
absolute power over Lydia and since Lydia was considered property, him shooting
was legal and justifiable.
On the other side, the
state’s team of lawyers made a good argument stating that it was unmoral that
the slave, Lydia, is treated like property even though she is human like any
other race in the world. The state believed that Mr. Mann mistreated his
“property” and that he had no right to shoot Lydia. Although the state made a great argument, it
was their opinion vs. laws and facts mentioned by Mr. Mann’s team of lawyers. The
state in reality really had no chance against Mr. Mann. I learned from this case that in this period
of time the laws were not fair and were unmoral. I also learned that in this
period of time, the law stated that it was ok to treat other human beings like “property”
based solely on the color of their skin. It’s important for citizens of the U.S. of
today to learn about this case to prevent anything like this from ever
happening again
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