State v Mann

State v Mann Post

I was part of the State v Mann mock trial and I was assigned to defend John Mann and to revoke his fine. Among my group, I was doing the religious argument, here was my piece I read from during the mock trial:

According to the word of god, John Mann was justified in what he did. John Mann’s punishments against Lydia were are justified according to Exodus 21:20-21: “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies directly as a result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.” John whipped Lydia as punishment and Lydia attempted to run away as a result, this is not allowed by the Bible according to Colossians 3:22: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” From these two bible verses we know that John Mann was justified in his actions to beat Lydia and she was not justified to run away.

Because John shot Lydia, one might attempt to argue that John should be punished according to Exodus 21:20 since she couldn’t have recovered after a day or two. However, Lydia’s fate is unknown so we cannot be certain if she actually did survive or not. It is completely possible that she did survive by being nurtured back to health by fugitive slaves in the surrounding swampland. Because of this fact, we cannot say for a fact if Lydia did die at John Mann’s hand. In order to give John Mann a fair trial in accordance with the due process clause of the fifth amendment, we cannot prosecute him because we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did anything wrong.

Sources:

https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/state-v-mann/

https://www.aaihs.org/state-v-mann-lydias-journey/

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fifth_amendment#:~:text=The%20Fifth%20Amendment%20of%20the,public%20danger%3B%20nor%20shall%20any

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/due-process.asp#:~:text=Due%20process%20is%20a%20requirement,both%20civil%20and%20criminal%20matters.

Bible verses:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021%3A20-21&version=NIV

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203%3A22&version=NIV

Obviously I don't really agree with what I wrote here. For one its disgusting to suggest that Lydia is somehow in the wrong for this, and John was completely justified. Unfortunately this is something that could be argued at the time and people could actually agree with it instead of seeing it for the obvious morally horrible argument that it is, and ultimately that's what I was going for, that's what I had to go for as I was assigned to be on John Mann's side. It is interesting how the bible seems to have two specific verses that fit perfectly with this case, I specifically remembered them from the bible team challenge. 

Overall I'm happy with the argument I made from a historical context, I think it's accurate to the time. One big mistake I made though was that my argument included some misinformation: 

"However, Lydia’s fate is unknown so we cannot be certain if she actually did survive or not. It is completely possible that she did survive by being nurtured back to health by fugitive slaves in the surrounding swampland."  

I got it from this quote: 

"We don’t know how badly she was wounded. (The guardianship account for 1829 shows no medical expense.) Perhaps she found cover in the nearby swamps, where maroons–fugitive slaves who had long populated that uninhabitable land–would have helped her evade capture." (aaihs.org)

We actually do know that she didn't die, thanks to Mr. Smith for informing me of that. This happened for two reasons: One and most obviously is that I only used one source for this information, I should've used multiple sources to ensure my information was accurate. Two is that I misinterpreted the quote from the website. I took "We don't know how badly she was wounded," as we didn't know if she died or not, which was a hasty generalization on my part. Going forward I need to be more aware of misinformation so I can avoid it. I'll be sure to read my sources carefully and confirm with multiple sources next time.

Images cited:

https://blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/nypl.digitalcollections.510d47da-75ac-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w.jpg

https://www.aamc.org/sites/default/files/misinformation-1413885459.jpg