And the argument is, that this form of punishment may constitutionally be inflicted, because it was so inconceivably atrocious and diabolical that the constitution did not prohibit it,--because the constitution only prohibited “cruel and unusual punishments” for crimes, and not for having a dark skin.
Mann argues against the justification of slavery based on the constitution's limitations on punishment.
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Better be debarred from the privilege of voting at all, than to be mocked with the form, while cheated of the substance.
The liberty of voting includes all other liberties.
The kidnapper, Alberti, now lies in a Pennsylvania prison for carrying away a mother and her child; but the mother and the child are now groaning under the lash of a southern taskmaster.
I answer, that this difference which they so be-little and disparage will often be all the difference between freedom and bondage, between life and death, between honor and infamy, between happiness and perdition.
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