# Would it have been (morally) murder if a slave killed his master?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-have-been-morally-murder-if-a-slave-killed-his-master/564546>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 17, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-have-been-morally-murder-if-a-slave-killed-his-master/564546 "2010-12-17T19:19:04Z")\
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**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-have-been-morally-murder-if-a-slave-killed-his-master/564546/80 "2010-12-19T01:40:41Z")

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> [@Rand\_Rover](#):
>
> So what does it mean for a homicide to be “morally justified”?
> 
> So, if I live in a society with slavery, and I know that a particular slave has adopted your view, I would be morally justified (using your words–I don’t know what those words mean) if I killed that slave, right?

No. You would morally justified in helping him/her escape. If you feared white-lead reprisals from doing that, then just simply get/stay out of the slave’s way.

You try to stop/kill them? Then you are no longer even ‘an innocent bystander’ in my book; you even become a justifiable target (‘fair game’) for any anti-slaver wishing to make an example/statement.

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