On the record
Homicide existed before law; the law came in subsequently, and declared that he who took an innocent man’s life without law, should lose his own by law.
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Mann draws a parallel between homicide and slavery, arguing that just because something existed before law does not make it a natural right.
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The general system of slaveholding farmers and planters, in all times and places, has been, and now is, and ever will be, to cultivate much land, badly, for present gain,--in short, to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Even cold, barren New England, though more than twice as thickly peopled, grew in population at a faster rate than these old slave states.
Slavery is an unspeakable wrong to the conscience.
Has the fact never yet come to the knowledge of the magistrates of the District of Columbia, that the constitution of the United States declares that “excessive bail shall not be required”?
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