Law and Slave Identity in Dred and Pudd'nhead Wilson
What is a slave? A slave, according to many of the laws in the individual slave states during the 19th century, was an article of property, a thing, and an object not human. However, according to another, the 3/5 Compromise of 1787, a slave was worth 3/5 of a white man. The population of the Southern states was heavily African, and this compromise enabled them to count those slaves as 3/5 of a citizen in order to get more representation in Congress. What does that mean for interpretations of the law? Can a `thing' be tried for murder, or is a slave a man who has committed only 3/5 of the crime? Unfortunately, laws often have an ambiguity that allows them to be misinterpreted. In the case of American slave laws, the ambiguity was such that the identity of the slave could be misinterpreted or even manipulated to serve unjust social practices.
Furthermore, one of the interpretations of the slave's identity is as a child under the guardianship of the slave master. If this translation were correct, however, the slave should have the right of protection under the law. But as said before, state law claims that a slave is a thing and therefore warrants no protection. The laws of slavery in the 19th century were ambiguous to the point that no one legal definition of a slave or a slave's rights could be made according to the law. Both Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain experimented with this ambiguity of identity and the laws surrounding it in their novels Dred and Pudd'nhead Wilson.
The lawyers in Dred and Pudd'nhead Wilson are Edward Clayton and David (Pudd'nhead) Wilson. Both of these lawyers are given the opportunity to interpret the identity of the slave during trial...
... middle of paper ...
...ecting themselves from the bite.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. – Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar." (Twain 99)
Works Cited
Carton, Evan. "Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Fiction of Law and Custom." Ed. Eric J. Sundquist. American Realism: New Essays. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Crane, Gregg. "Stowe and the Law." Cindy Weinstein. The Cambridge Companion to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
"Slavery and Indentured Servants." Law Library of Congress. 9 Dec. 2004 < http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awlaw3/slavery.html>.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.
Twain, Mark. Pudd'nhead Wilson. New York: Bantum Books, 1981.
Barry, Kathleen, Ph.D. “Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist”. New York: New York University Press, 1988.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.
The general consensus among historical accounts of slavery is that southern slave owners mostly considered slaves as less of a person than they themselves were. They still viewed slaves as people, but not on the same level as them. Irwin Unger describes the system of slavery like many slaves have who have since written about it. Unger says that slaves were in a “system that denied them their humanity” (Unger 309). Slave owners were racist, he says. They were viewed as inferior. He writes, “It was [this] mark of inferiority that affected all black men and women and did not disappear even when black people secured their freedom” (Unger 309). According to Unger, “it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write” (Unger 309). Owners saw it as unnecessary for them and did not want slaves to become more equal with the free people. A conversation between Eva and her mother in Stowe’s book reveals this view of slaves as inferior along with slaves not being taught t...
President Kennedy has shown the commitment, justified the struggles, and now developed the need in every listener’s mind why America needs to be the first country to land a person on the moon. Looking back, he obviously succeeded. His speech was the major turning point in making the move happen, and rhetorical questions, allusions, and repetition all played an important role in making the speech so persuasive and inspiring.
American Literary Realism, 1870-1910. Vol. 8, Issue 1 - "The 'Standard' University of Texas, 1975. http://www.ut Gilman, Charlotte.
Harriet Beecher Stowe uses characterization and a tragic situation to portray the contrast of the bourgeois and the proletariat classes and the social movements within the class structure.
These early space missions excited most of the people in developed countries, but there were some problems. The Soviet Union had made it into space, and now President John F. Kennedy wanted to land on the moon first. President John F. Kennedy said, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving
One example of buoyant force is in the type of material used to build the submarine. In order for the submarine to float, the average density of the vessel must be lower than the density of the water, which is one. Because submarines can also submerge, the submarine must also be sturdy to resist the pressure when underwater. Thus, the Ohio-class submarine has two hulls built from steel or titanium and has ballast tanks between the hulls and in other open spaces which can hold air or water. A second example of buoyant force in a submarine is when it submerges. In order to submerge, it uses the ballast tanks. When the submarine floats, the ballast tanks are filled with air; however, when it wants to submerge, the valves open allowing water to flow in until the density of the submarine is higher than the water. Finally, if it wants to resurface, compressed air will force the water out, causing the density to be lower than the water. Another example of buoyant force in these ships is the size of the submarine. If the volume of the submarine is larger but the mass remains the same or if the mass is smaller but the volume remains the same, the density will drop, helping the craft float; however, if the density becomes too low, the submarine will lose its ability to submerge. Thus, the size of the submarine is very important - if it is too big or small, it may lose the two abilities which make it so powerful. As you can see. Buoyant force plays a major role in whether this submarine can float or submarine. As you can see, buoyant force plays a major role in whether this submarine can float or
The term slave is defined as a person held in servitude as the chattel of another, or one that is completely passive to a dominating influence. The most well known cases of slavery occurred during the settling of the United States of America. From 1619 until July 1st 1928 slavery was allowed within our country. Slavery abolitionists attempted to end slavery, which at some point; they were successful at doing so. This paper will take the reader a lot of different directions, it will look at slavery in a legal aspect along the lines of the constitution and the thirteenth amendment, and it will also discuss how abolitionists tried to end slavery. This paper will also discuss how slaves were being taken away from their families and how their lives were affected after.
Technology has become a huge part of everyday life, and people seem to have one great debate and are fighting over which is the best phone, iPhone or Android. The Apple iPhone is a cellular smartphone that was created and is maintained by Apple Inc. Android is another type of smartphone that is accessible to consumers, but the operating system is powered by Google and many different companies produce Android devices. The different operating systems and interfaces have created a long and carried out debate to which was superior. iPhone is the better phone and there are many reasons as to why it is superior to its rival, Android. The iPhone’s sleek and beautiful design has users’ hands fondling the device and never putting it down. The operating system is very distinct, but is straightforward with its functionality. People who purchase the iPhone believe that they have received their money’s worth and more when owning and iPhone. The iPhone is better than Android when compared because of the beautiful design and attractive display, the operating system and its functionality, and the device’s personal worth is definitely worth the money spent to own one.
8) Ian F. Akyildiz, Ismail H. Kasimoglu, “Ad Hoc Networks’’, Wireless sensor and actor networks: Research Challenges, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, May-2004.
Freedom is what defines an individual, it bestows upon someone the power to act, speak, or think without externally imposed restraints. Therefore, enslavement may be defined as anything that impedes one’s ability to express their freedoms. However, complete uncompromised freedom is virtually impossible to achieve within a society due to the contrasting views of people. Within Mark Twain’s 1885 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, numerous controversies are prevalent throughout the novel, primarily over the issue of racism and the general topic of enslavement. The characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn along with their development take an unmistakable, resilient stand against racism and by doing such in direct relation against the naturalized views of society. Twain’s characters, Jim and Huck are at the focal point of this controversy; they together are enslaved in two particularly different forms, nevertheless they both pursue their freedoms from their enslavements. The development of these characters and the growth of their interdependent relationship generate the structure of the anti-racism message within this novel. Twain’s introductory warning cautions the dangers of finding motives, morals, or plots in his novel, ironically proving the existence of each and encourages the reader to discover them. One of the undisputable major themes that extensively peculated my mind as I read the text regarded the subject of freedom and enslavement. Through Twain’s constant contrasting of freedom and enslavement such as its portrayal of slavery in the form of life on land compared to the freedom on the raft on the Mississippi Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, suggests that people are subject to various ensl...
In advertising its products, the IKEA catalogs played a primary role as they were attractive and easy to use. The efficiency of IKEA products and quality of design were emphasized in the catalogs. Every household in the area surrounding a new store received a copy of the catalog during the busy years of expansion. Although direct mail-order sales usually represented a very small portion of the total sales. The whole IKEA range was not offered by the catalogs. To attract new customers to the stores, they were always a key factor. Throughout the world, IKEA continued to open stores in different locations and attracted various customers. It was interesting to look at a company offering the same basic products at all stores and do well in many different cultures with different tastes. Lastly, the IKEA’s current number of employees in retail and expansion functions is 116,500 as of 2015. Thus, the total sum of employee worldwide in 2015 was 155, 000. Literally, the rate of employee would be increased in terms of business development in the future. (Brammer, Jackson, and Matten,
It is because of buoyancy that the people who swims, fishes and boats stay afloat(Buoyancy - Concept 2014).
“Just as sharks have fins on their bodies to help them swim and dive, so submarines have fins called diving planes or hydroplanes. They work a bit like the wings and control surfaces (swiveling flaps) on an airplane, creating an upward force called lift.” (http://www.explainthatstuff.com/submarines.html) “as the submarine's propellers push it forward, water rushes over the planes, creating an upward force called lift that helps it remain at a certain depth, creating a state of neutral buoyancy (floating).”