Political Quotes

On the record
As, therefore, if the geographical metes and bounds of the State of Maryland were shown to you, you could not say, upon your oaths, that it was a description of the State of Pennsylvania; so, if the offence of “transporting” be proved to you, you cannot say, on your oaths, that it is the offence of stealing.
Said by
Horace Mann
Free Soil · Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Mann argues that legal definitions must be precise, using geographical boundaries as a metaphor for legal distinctions.

Share

More from Horace Mann

The dearest and most precious of all human rights is the right of private judgment in matters of religion.

gutenberg.org

They cannot do otherwise with laborers who work by compulsion, for the benefit only of their masters, and whose sole interest in the matter is to do as little and to consume as much as possible.

gutenberg.org

The wickedest white man, in a company of slaves, bears a charmed life.

gutenberg.org

This ruinous system of large farms cultivated by slaves showed its effects in Italy, eighteen hundred years ago, when the Roman empire was at the height of its grandeur.

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation