Quote:
|
So, in a past life, you were returning escaped slaves to massa in accordance with the Supreme Court's rulings?
|
If you've been reading this entire thread, then surely you read that I support selective civil disobedience when a significant portion of the population does as well, thus my comment that I would have supported the civil rights movement both through civil disobedience and by legislation, which ultimately resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As for your slavery quip, Northern states had laws that allowed former slaves to remain as free citizens if they reached the North, so no I would not have been returning "escaped slaves to massa." This effort remained legal until the Dred Scot decision in 1857. Partly as a result of the decision, our nation plunged into Civil War, and emerged on the other side with the passage of the 13th Amendment. But I will admit that in such an extreme example, if I was faced to comply with the Fugitive Slave Law as ratified by Dred Scott, or not comply and face the legal consequences, I would have not complied. I'm honest enough to admit that there are exceptions to every rule, even the Rule of Law, but they should remain rare exceptions that do not swallow the Rule of Law itself.