The Amistad
What major conclusions can you derive in regard to the significance of the Amistad Case? In 1839, in waters off the coast of Cuba, a group of forty-nine Africans ensnared in the Atlantic slave trade struck out for freedom. They had been captured, sold into slavery, carried across the ocean, sold again, and they were being transported on what was, for millions of Africans, the last leg of the slave trade when they found the chance to seize the initiative. One of them, a man the world would come to know as "Cinque," worked free of his chains and led a shipboard revolt. The vessel they won was a schooner that had been named, in a grim bit of irony, the Amistad ("Friendship"). The Africans tried to force two Cuban survivors to sail them back to Africa, but the Amistad wound up instead in U.S. waters, just past Long Island Sound, where the Africans were again taken into custody. Spain promptly demanded their extradition to face trial in Cuba for piracy and murder, but their plight caught the attention of American abolitionists, who mounted a legal defense on the Africans' behalf. The case went through the American judicial system all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Amistad Case became one of the most important slavery
An amendment to repeal slavery was not possible; it would never be passed by 3/4ths of the states. The pro slavery case contained arguments such as the Africans were savages based on their head shape and bodies. cases that the nation had ever seen. The Amistad brought together all three groups and others in the fight against slavery, they believed the Amistad Case could "undercut barriers based on color and racial prejudices, the South would lose its major bases for slavery. His arguments before the Supreme Court didn't do much, in the end, to influence the ruling: Justice Story's decision took up the points made by Adams's colleague, Roger Baldwin. From his point of view, this was not only a potential diplomatic crisis with Spain, but more fundamentally a slave revolt -- a dangerous provocation to southerners already unsettled by the rise of northern abolitionism. Therefore his cabinet formulated the administration's initial response: meeting in mid-September, they arranged for federal authorities to support Spanish demands that the "slaves" be returned to Cuba to face trial as murderers and pirates. That blacks benefit from slavery, and that abolitionists are just troublemakers who are trying to stir something up. The Amistad Case was one of the only times when three main groups of abolitionists came together to form one group in the fight against slavery. The anti-slavery case contained parts about the noble appearance of Cinque and how his actions were similar to those of the U. The second group was a group that believed in using religion in the fight against slavery. The fact that the blacks were freed was a superior step for anti-slavery and this case would live in the minds of all for years to come. The opinion, written by Story, may or may not have fully reflected the thinking of his southern colleagues, but set forth his own views. Still Adams's spirited defense made strong points, gave life to the abolitionist sentiment, and helped to damage Van Buren's credibility. Unlike The Amistad (the movie), he did not replace any judges on the case, but did put federal attorneys on the case.
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Acceptance Essays
