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Mock Trial- State v Mann

 For this assignment we defended either State or Mann in the State v Mann Trial. I argued on behalf on the State stating my argument for the historical viewpoint.



It is currently the year 1829 and why our nation cannot keep up with the times is beyond me. The world as a whole is moving past slavery but instead, we are keeping ourselves in the past trying to preserve such an evil institution. In the year of 1787 the United States Constitutional Convention took place. This is where strong ideas of banning the slave trade were first presented. Even at this point in history the institution of slavery was being opposed by many in the US. However, the Northern and southern states could not possibly come to an agreement on this matter as the southern states clung onto slavery so tightly. If the slave trade were to be banned, the states of Georgia, and the Carolinas threatened to leave the Constitutional Convention. This unfortunately backed the northern states into a tight corner and the Constitutional Convention ultimately ended with the creation of the 3/5th Compromise. But although the slave trade was not able to be banned right then and there everyone did not give up hope as there are good people in our country that see the cruelness of this institution. Because of this a special committee decided that although congress does not currently have the power to ban the slave trade, they will in the year of 1808 but until then the matter must be shut down. It isn’t until years later where the world sees a huge shift regarding the anti-slavery movement. In the year of 1806 Great Britain passes the foreign Slave Trade Act (1806), banning the slave traders of Great Britain from operating in foreign territories and then passes the Slave Trade Abolition Act of March 1807, banning the slave trade in Great Britain indefinitely. In addition to Great Britain many other European countries including Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and France all banned the slave trade by the year 1817 and Spain even abolished slavery as a whole in 1811. Now we jump to the year 1808 and we have been waiting since 1787 for the slave trade to be banned. Some in our country are so eager that on January 1st, the very first day of 1808 congress passed a law to finally end the transcontinental slave trade in the United States of America. This was amazing news however internal slave trading of slaves in the south continued as there was still 4 million slaves stuck in this institution down South. But now we are in the year of 1829 and if slavery isn’t entirely abolished in other countries, it will be soon. It is a frowned upon evil and the world sees that now, well the whole world except us. We like to think of ourselves as a nation for the greater good but nothing about this institution we continue to support as it is evil. We protect only some man’s freedoms and liberties but at what cost? If the rest of the world can see the evils and sins of slavery, why can’t we accept it. The abolishment of slavery in our world in inevitable. What happened to the Lydia, the slave in question was horrendous and should have never happened to anyone regardless of skin color. It is purely cruel and a system that allows for the shooting of a slave in the back like this should not even be allowed. What happened to Lydia was wrong and only happened because of such a horrific institution that even the rest of the world is moving past. If we don’t move past with it we’ll be stuck in the past with nothing but our own evils.
Sources:

Murray, Jonathan. “State v. Mann.” North Carolina History Project, 16 Mar. 2016, https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/state-v-mann/.

“Nternational Abolition and Anti-Slavery Timeline.” International Abolition and Anti-Slavery Timeline American Abolitionists and Antislavery Activists, http://www.americanabolitionists.com/international-abolition-and-anti-slavery-timeline.html.

“Slavery in History " Free the Slaves.” Free the Slaves, https://freetheslaves.net/slavery-today-2/slavery-in-history/.

“State v. Mann (1829).” Omeka RSS, https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/44.


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