Crevecoeur

Crevecoeur had many segments in his writings but one that struck me as most interesting was, A Singular Punishment. When he discusses the encounter with the African who was hanging in a tree, it brought out the most emotion for me compared to the other parts in his writings. How difficult would it have been to live in a society where people took it in their own hands to punish one another. Im not saying that the man shouldnt have killed his owner, but i bet that he didnt have a trial or case. While thinking about the story i thought to myself, if i lived in that time period and came accross the same man, what would i have done? It is true that our beliefs are completely different then back when slavery existed, but how would have incident have affected me. It just seemed like such a cruel way for another person to have to die, with the birds eating away at him.
i also feel the sotry tells about the government. the white man oviously felt that he didnt have the right or authority to truly help the African. While the scene startled him at first, he was calm and rash about it, then went into town and discussed it with his friends. Who does that, but thats all he really could do. If he would have helped and saved that mans life then the governemt would have come after him and the African and punished them both to death. To me, it feels as if a extremely controlled society where the citizens have little or no say in their own actions.