Do all murders have to be unlawful? In short, murder can be justified. When self-defense and testimonies are taken out of the equation, murder does not seem lawful. That is what happened to Celia, a slave who had been raped for years by her master. White southerners decided to dehumanize slaves as much as they could for their own gain. The 1855 story and trial of Celia, A Slave shows the realities and horrors of slave life and societal views on slavery. By the 1850s in the South, slavery was a very common practice. Most Southerners were not worried if it was moral or not; they just wanted a profit. Slave owners often own more land than nonslaveholders, some totaling up to 300 acres. This extra help and land often makes their farms valued at…show more content… If she had the right to fight him off from rape, then masters would have little say over their reproductive abilities, which are abused to be economically beneficial. (90-91) As the states were creeping up on a war over slavery in Kansas, judges did not want to be caught in a trial about whether slavery was morally wrong or lawful. 69. Judge Hall over Celia’s case was one who did not want to be caught in the crossfire. (85) He tried to make her trial as quick as possible, which made the jury only have one possible outcome. After asserting that she was found guilty, her defense asked for a retrial but was denied. (101-102) This trial and the lack of defense and a testimony show that the South was still not morally conflicted enough to care about the rights of slaves. It also shows that some people were more worried about how they would be viewed, or how their decision would affect the public. Not everyone was against Celia. Her defense tried to make it look like she had acted in self defense, even without her testifying. (86) Jameson tried his best to make the jury find her innocent, making it seem like he felt she was morally innocent, even though she was a
