| The Amistad Case United States v. Libellants and Claimants of
the Schooner Amistad, was a United States Supreme
Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on
board the Spanish schooner La Amistad in 1839. The
rebellion broke out when the schooner, traveling along
the coast of Cuba, was taken over by a group of captives who had
earlier been kidnapped in Africa and illegally sold into
slavery.
Chronology of Events
February 1839
Portuguese slave hunters abduct a large group of Africans
in Sierra Leone and ship them to Havana, Cuba, in
violation of several international treaties.
June 28, 1839
The Amistad, carrying 53 of the Africans in its
cargo hold, departs Havana for Guanaja, an island off the
coast of Honduras. In addition to captain Ramón Ferrer,
the ship is manned by José Ruiz, Pedro Montes, a cook,
an African cabin boy, and two other crewmen.
July 2, 1839
The Africans manage to free themselves from the cargo
hold and seize the ship, killing Ferrer and the cook in
the process; the cabin boy was spared and two crewmen
escaped by lifeboat. Using the cabin boy as an
interpreter, the Africans agree to let Ruiz and Mendes
live, provided they sail the ship back to Africa.
taking over the Amistad
Over the next month and a half, Mendes
steers the ship eastward by day but then turns back
toward the northwest at night, essentially paralleling
the east coast of the United States.
August 26, 1839
The Amistad drops anchor off Long Island so some
of the Africans can go ashore to procure water and
provisions. Sea captains Henry Green and Pelatiah
Fordham were shooting birds when they came across the
shore party. The Africans pointed to the Amistad
laying at anchor off-shore and told the men, through sign
language, that there were two great chests of gold aboard
that they would willingly give anyone who supplied them
with provisions and helped them get back to Africa. Green
and Fordham agree, but are intercepted by the U.S. cutter
Washington, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas
Gedney, before they can reach the Amistad. Upon
reaching the Amistad, Gedney is met by Ruiz and
Mendes, who tell him how the Africans had killed the
ship's captain and cook, seized the ship, and taken them
prisoner. Gedney then orders that the Africans be held
below decks while he tows the Amistad to New
London, Connecticut, where the fate of the ship and its
cargo, including the Africans, could be decided.
August 29, 1839
U.S. Attorney for Connecticut William S. Holabird holds a
judicial hearing aboard the Washington to
determine if a crime had been committed, who had
committed it, or whether U. S. courts even had
jurisdiction. There was also the matter of salvage
rights, which were claimed by both Gedney and the Washington
crew and Green and Fordham. The Amistad's cargo
of wine, saddles, gold, and silk was worth an estimated
$40,000 in 1839 dollars, and the slaves had a market
value of at least half that much. The hearing is presided
over by Andrew T. Judson, District Judge for Connecticut,
who determines that there is enough evidence to send the
case to the U.S. Circuit Court. He orders that the
Africans be held in the county jail at New Haven in the
meantime.
The story of the Amistad and the Africans had
by now become national news, and as many as 5,000 people
come to New Haven every day just to see the Africans.
Most of them are just curiosity seekers, but a few are
abolitionists who see the Amistad case as a way
to publicize the horrors of slavery. One of them, Lewis
Tappan, forms the Friends of Amistad Africans Committee,
which raises money to hire noted attorney Roger Baldwin
to act as legal counsel for the Africans. Spain,
meanwhile, pressures the United States to return the
schooner to its Cuban owners, concede that the U. S.
courts have no jurisdiction over Spanish subjects, and
return the Africans to Havana. Anxious to comply with the
Spanish demands, President
Martin Van Buren and District Attorney Holabird craft
legal arguments they hope will produce the results sought
by Spain.
September 14, 1839
U.S. Circuit Court Judge Smith Thompson opens court
proceedings in Hartford, Connecticut. After three days of
testimony, he rules that because the alleged mutiny and
murders took place in international waters and did not
involve U.S. citizens, the United States did not have
jurisdiction to consider the criminal charges. He then
refers the civil case regarding salvage rights and the
fate of the Africans to the U.S. District Court;
meanwhile, the Africans are to remain in custody.
While the country waits for the civil trial to begin,
Yale professor Josiah Gibbs is able to determine that the
detained Africans speak Mende, a language native to
Sierra Leone. He subsequently finds James Covey, a Black
dockworker who also speaks Mende through whom the
Africans relate the story of their capture in Sierra
Leone, their journey to Cuba and subsequent sale, and of
why and how they took over the Amistad.
November 19, 1839
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew T. Judson hears two days
of testimony and then adjourns the case.
January 8, 1840
The civil trial begins in New Haven. Judson hears from
many witnesses supporting the Africans' claim that they
had been illegally taken from Africa and were therefore
property of no one, while Holabird argues that the
Africans should be returned to Spain for trial related to
the capture of the Amistad.
Mendes pointing out the leader of
the Amistad mutiny for the court
January 13, 1840
Judson rules that the Africans had been "born
free" and kidnapped in violation of international
law, and that they mutinied in order to regain their
lawful freedom. He further orders that the Africans be
turned over to the President for return to Africa. The
issue of who had the rights to the rest of the Amistad's
cargo is apparently not addressed.
September 1840
U.S. Circuit Court Judge Smith Thompson denies the Van
Buren Administration's appeal of Judson's decision. The
Administration takes its appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
With the ultimate fate of the Africans still
uncertain, Tappan convinces former President John Quincy Adams
to join Baldwin as counsel for the Africans before the
Supreme Court.
February 22-24, 1841
The Supreme Court hears arguments from U.S.
Attorney General Henry Gilpin, Roger Baldwin, and John
Quincy Adams.
March 9, 1841
Justice Joseph Story, speaking for the Supreme
Court, rules that the Africans were "kidnapped
Africans, who by the laws of Spain itself were entitled
to their freedom." They are, therefore, entitled to
decide for themselves where they wish to spend the rest
of their lives.
Having finally gained their freedom, the Africans make
it clear that they wish to return to their homeland. A
group of missionaries raises money to both take the
Africans back to Sierra Leone and to establish a mission
there so that the former captives and their fellow
tribesmen could be converted to Christianity.
November 1841
The 35 surviving Africans (many of the original 53 had
died before the Amistad's capture by the Washington,
and a few more died before the final Supreme Court
decision was handed down) and 4 missionaries board the Gentleman
and set sail for Sierra Leone. The missionaries succeeded
in the establishment of a mission there, but the mission
itself was never very successful in converting the
locals.
WEB SOURCE
Famous American Trials law2.umkc.edu
SEE ALSO
Cuba
President Martin Van
Buren
John Quincy
Adams
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