State Vs. Mann Mock Trial - Law Anti Slavery

    I want you to close your eyes and imagine you’re alone in a new house. You have just been hired to work a job where the hours are unbearable, the conditions are cruel, and the boss is ruthless. You are scared and unsure of what the next day has in store. Imagine that you are Lydia, a slave who was shot and assaulted for trying to escape. She was scared. Scared for her life, scared of her temporary master John Mann, and scared of the punishments he had in store for her. Assault and battery were the charges given to John Mann for shooting and injuring Lydia. That was the ethical and right choice. Assault and battery are felonies and against the laws of North Carolina as well as the rest of the United States. Slavery is legal in North Carolina but shooting another human to prove a point is unlawful and wrong.

    Lydia was hired for a year by John Mann, but her master was Elizabeth Jones. Jones was renting Lydia to Mann for the year so that she could do work for him. Lydia was never sold to Mann and never was considered his slave or his property. In the case, the assault and abuse shown towards Lydia would be against the law. “The Southern United States declared whites that killed slaves were treated the same as if they had killed another white person.” (Homicide Justified ) Judge Thomas Ruffin agreed with this statement and that is why Mann was charged. Physical abuse shown towards slaves is a very common thing, but only if the slave master is the one doing the punishing. This is similar to the case State vs. Hall. In this case, residents Hall and Dockery were charged with assault and battery for the shooting and killing of Andrew Bryson. In this case the jury stated, “the relation between a master and a slave to those existing between parents and children, masters and apprentices, and tutors and scholars, and upon the limitations to the right of the superiors in theses relations.” (Civil War Era NC) Masters of slaves own and work slaves to what they believe is the proper amount. When one is the master of a slave, he/she have the lawful right to do what they want. But in the case of John Mann and Lydia, he was not her master.

    He had no right to punish her and definitely not the right to shoot at her as she tried to escape. Mann openingly firing at Lydia is demonstrating battery which is “an unlawful application of force directly or indirectly upon another person causing bodily injury or offensive contact.” (LII) The attempt of battery is assault which is illegal. Lydia being a slave does not change the facts of the case. Mann was in the process of hiring Lydia, and that process meant that Lydia had not yet become Manns property. Elizabeth Jones would still be the only person who had the right to punish Lydia because she is still the lawful owner of Lydia. Mann had no right to assault Lydia and that is why the felonies he was convicted of are unlawful and why he was properly charged with assault and battery.

More Details on the Case: State Vs. Mann Case Brief Summary

https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/44

https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3148&context=cwbr

https://www.google.com/search?

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