State v Mann Religious Arguments

 In class we reenacted the 1929 Supreme Court Case, State v Mann.

 

Facts on the Case: 

Defendant John Mann rented slave Lydia from fellow salve-owner Elizabeth Jones. After Mann chastised Lydia, Lydia ran off. Mann shot and wounded Lydia. The State of North Carolina charged John Mann with assault and battery and fined him five dollars. The defendant was found guilty since the trial judge believed that Mann’s punishment of shooting Lydia was unwarranted based on what she did. Mann appealed this conviction, taking this case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court justice, Thomas Ruffin, overturned the previous decision on the grounds that “One who has a right to the labor of a slave, has also a right to all the means of controlling his conduct which the owner has.” Even though John did not own the slave Lydia, he had rented her, entitling him to the same authority as the owner. 

 

 

Before being broken into groups, we discussed the 7 Modes in which we base arguments from. Those modes are:

·      Religion/ Moral 

·      Science

·      History

·      Norms/ Customs/ Traditions

·      Social-Economics

·      Ethics

·      Law 

 

In these groups, we each picked a mode, listed above, to base our research upon and provide evidence on. I chose to base my argument on religion and morals of the time. 

 

North Carolina’s Protestantism was primarily evangelical. The evangelical faith emphasized biblical authority, commitment, and conversion. Since slavery was not only legally practiced in the North Carolina constitution but scriptural evidence was also found to support the institution of slavery. Christian masters provide religious instructions for their slaves, removing them from worshipping the devil.

 

Slavery has been a part of society and slaves were taught religious values. The Word of God has not changed; the doctrine of the Apostles has not changed; the Constitutional our country has not changed.

 

Slaveholding was not only justified but moral because it is recognized as such in the holy scripture. 

 

Scriptural Evidence on Slavery was okay:

There is no higher authority other than God himself as said in Romans 13:1.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 states that God’s word will guide Christians to make the right decisions. He is just and wise in all his decisions. 

 

Leviticus 25:44-46: God speaking through Moses, authorities the chosen people of Israel to make slaves of strangers in their promised land. 

 

Joshua 9: 27: Joshua and the Israelites turn the Gibeonites into their slaves.

 

Genesis 21: 9-10: Abraham, the “father of faith,” and all the patriarchs held slaves without God’s disapproval

 

Genesis 9: 24-27: Canaan, Ham’s son, was made a slave to his brothers

 

Exodus 20: 10, 17: The Ten Commandments mention slavery twice, implying God’s acceptance of it

 

Ephesians 6: 5-8: The Apostle Paul specifically commanded slaves to obey their masters

 

Philemon 12: Paul returned a runaway slave, Philemon, to his master

 

Slavery is God’s means of protecting and providing for an inferior race; brought on by the “curse of Ham ” on Canaan in Genesis 9:25 or punishment of Cain in Genesis 4:12

 

In other to gain a further understanding if the times this decisions was made, I encourage the read of “ The Religious Defense of American Slavery Before 1830” by Larry R. Morrison. He did a great job of singling out key scriptures and furthering elaborating on some scriptures I briefly discussed above.