Compare And Contrast United States Vs Holmes

“United States vs. Holmes, U.S. Circuit Court, 1842”

1. On the night of April 20th 1841, Alexander Holmes and other seamen who were in charge of the larger lifeboat threw over 14 men and 2 women into the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic waters. A day before the 19th the William Brown sunk in the Atlantic from being hit by an iceberg. The captain and crew were only able to save 32 passengers and nine of the remaining crew. The rest of the 30 passengers on board sank with the William Brown and unfortunately most of them were children. Once they survived that tragic night, the captain had ordered Holmes to take the large lifeboat and part ways, hoping to find hey way to get rescued. But on that night, rain constantly flooded the boat, with

One by one Holmes chose people to throw overboard, mainly single men. Many passengers begged for their life, mainly Frank Askin who had asked to be spared until morning and offered money but Holmes had no interest in his plea, nor the interest of his two sisters that had threatened to jump off themselves if he was not spared. Unfortunately Frank and his sisters were thrown off anyways that night. The next morning after this tragic night Holmes spotted another vessel in the ocean and was rescued by the Cresent. The long lifeboat had provisions that could have lasted a week for the remaining passengers, if Holmes had not planned to throw any more people off the upcoming night. They were taken to Le Havre and made it back to Pennsylvania where the public ledger demanded that the mate and sailors of William Brown to be trialed in court, accusing them of manslaughter. Several passengers that have survived from there execution filed reports against the sailors and mate, waiting for justice upon Holmes call. At the end of a Holmes trial he was sentenced to six months in jail and given a $20 fine, which was pardoned by the President. So Holmes served his entire sentence and was released back to the

Kant's categorical imperative is a belief that certain actions are absolutely prohibited even that if it would bring more happiness as an alternative. There are two things you must ask yourself before doing the action. One would be can i rationally say that everyone would act as I supposed to act and two is, does my action respect the goals of human beings rather than merely using them for my own purposes. An example of this belief would be unconditional rule sayings don’t cheat on taxes. So even though the cheating on your taxes would serve your own interest, you cannot cheat because it is a universal law. Which means that if everybody practice it then you have to practice it, if they do not practice it that you cannot practice it. But good will is accepted in Kant's theory because it is out of your kindness of your own heart. For example if your car crashed in the freeway and somebody help you it would be out of their own free will and good will to help you, that does not mean that they are obligated to help you, but it is out of their own kindness that they are doing so. Many people could just drive on by without any kind of assistance and that would still follow Kant's theory. According to Kant's Categorical Imperative Holmes’s decision would also be stated as morally wrong because there is a universal law that clearly states one should not kill. Kant states universal laws that everyone should abide by and should never do like steal, cheat, or kill. This is a rule