The constitution has provided that “cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted,” even for the perpetration of the worst of crimes; yet here is a case where the most cruel of punishments, or of privations, may be inflicted without even a charge of crime.
Mann critiques the constitution's allowance for cruel punishments, especially in the context of slavery.
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Under such a practice with regard to indictments, coupled with such a practice in regard to bail, an accusation would be as fatal as crime itself, however innocent the accused might be.
Slavery is an unspeakable wrong to the conscience.
But the impious hand of man divorces these twin capacities, wherever it denies knowledge.
Her lowland neighbors of Maryland and the Carolinas were not far behind at the seeding; nor are they far behind at the ingathering of desolation.
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