Slave owners had many justifications for why holding people in bondage was acceptable. From the idea that African Americans were a lesser race who needed taking care of by white patriarchs to the economic justification, slave owners were always trying to find new ways to dispute those who disagreed with their choice to hold others in captivity. Charleston slave holders were no exception in attempting...
In the spring of 1834, the South Carolina court of appeals heard numerous cases none more prominent than a case on Military law determining whether newly appointed Lieutenant Edward McCready’s rights were infringed upon when he was denied commission by a superior officer, Colonel Benjamin F. Hunt. Presiding over the cases at Law argued and determined in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina at...
Men and women who owned slaves had to constantly emphasize their position of authority and dominance over the people they owned. Some did so through beatings, starvation, and atrocious treatment. Others did through simple words, such as order a slave to perform a task that the owner knew the slave particularly despised. Regardless of how, each slave's day was full of a constant reminder that they were...