Mock Trial Reflection

There were some interesting ideas that I learned from both groups presenting the State vs Mann mock trial. Slave rental was normal in North Carolina which is crazy to comprehend if that really happened in today’s society. It is basically saying that the slaves were “objects” to rent, not normal human beings. The relationship between the slave owner and slave was filled with fear on both sides. It was due to the fact that the owner was scared that the slave might run away and the slave feared that he/she might be treated super poorly.

Here are some of the bullet points that I thought were impactful points from both groups…

• Protestant Christian community (doctrine of the apostles) accept it as moral to have slaves because the work of the slave owner improves the slaves well being.

• The Bible talks about slaves in a good way. Abraham had slaves; Jesus never spoke out about slavery. 

• Western traditions are based on Greco-Roman traditions (slavery was never really mentioned.) 

• A slave is a piece of property just like a sack of flour whether we like it or not within the law.

Within both groups presenting it was clear to me that the group that one me over was the team of Mann. The group had much stronger points. Lydia getting shot in the back was her fault because she didn’t obey the rules as I believe the right ruling in 1829. However, it would be completely different in our society today. Our society today is very soft and any act of violence especially killing someone demands a jail sentence unless they are acting out of self-defense which can be hard to defend unless there’s concrete evidence.

VSVS