OH MANN

The case between female slave Lydia and John Mann was a very controversial case. Before I talk about each side of the case I am going to give a little background of what happened. Lydia was originally owned by a man named Josiah Small. John Mann rented Lydia from Josiah. One day John was apparently mistreating Lydia and she tried to resist him by running away. As she was running, John responded by shooting her in the back, injuring Lydia. Mann was charged and fined $10 for his wrong.

Now that we know what happened, lets here what that State and John Mann have to say:

STATE:

Even though Mann was bot her original slave owner, he is still just as responsible for making sure she is brought back that way she came. It is legal to whip, torture and brand slaves but you cannot kill them. There was a similar case to this one in Williamsburg Virginia, but the result of the case is that the men were put to death for killing the slaves.

JOHN MANN:

Lydia was John's property at the time and the property law states that the property owner has complete control of the slaves. It was Lydia's fault for being disobedient and running away, so Mann had to do something to prevent her from getting away. He has the right to punish runaway slaves.

In the end, John Mann won.