The Amistad Event: Setting Context

17th century Virginia tobacco plantation

1619

First enslaved Africans brought to Virginia.

Sugar plantation in St. Croix, Virgin Islands

1640 - 1680

Major increase of African captive labor in the British Caribbean for sugar production.

MA 54th Regiment, Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

1780

Massachusetts Constitution adopted with freedom clause interpreted as prohibiting slavery.

“The Old Plantation” circa 1785-1795

1789

U.S. Constitution ratified with clause equating enslaved Africans to 3/5ths of 

a white citizen. Includes provision that international slave trade would end 

within 20 years.

Cape Coast Castle, where enslaved Africans were held and sent 

to British territories (David Stanley)

1807

Great Britain abolishes slave trade.

“Action off Cartegena” before 1772

1819

U.S. law equates slave trading with piracy, punishable by death.

1823 map of the United States

1820

Missouri is admitted to Union as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. Includes agreement to bar slavery from northern federal territories.

Enslaved Africans depicted in front of the US Capitol

1836

“Gag rule” implemented by House of Representatives to table abolitionist pe- titions in response to petitions to abolish slavery in District of Columbia.

Oil painting of the Amistad

1839-1841

The Mende are kidnapped from Africa, sold into slavery in Cuba, and eventually seize a ship to secure their freedom. They are arrested by the US government and their story leads to a Supreme Court trial, after which they return to 

Africa as free men. For more information, please consult the detailed timeline.

1850 map showing Free vs. Slave-holding states

1850

The Compromise of 1850 admits California as free state, eliminates slave 

trade in the District of Columbia, establishes Utah and New Mexico without 

restrictions on slavery, and requires return of fugitive captives.

A cartoon criticizing the Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854

The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise, allowing popular 

sovereignty to determine slave-or free-state status of territories seeking state- hood, which increases sectional divisions within the U.S. and breaks down the 

traditional two-party system, giving rise to the Republican Party.

Dred Scott circa 1857

1857

The Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court denies any possibility of citizenship for African Americans, imperils fugitive enslaved Africans and sets 

back the cause of abolition.

John Brown circa 1856

1859

John Brown’s unsuccessful Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, raid to incite slave rebellion heightens tension over slavery.

The first publication announcing SC’s secession

December 20, 1860

South Carolina secedes from the Union after Abraham Lincoln’s election as 

president, followed by 10 other states through May 1861.

$50 Confederate bill with Jefferson Davis

February 1861

The seceding states establish the government of the Confederate States of 

America and create a constitution endorsing slavery but prohibiting the inter- national slave trade.

“Bombardment at Fort Sumter”, 1861 (?)

April 1861

When Confederate forces fire on U.S. troops at Fort Sumter in the harbor of 

Charleston, South Carolina, President Lincoln calls for troops to put down the 

“insurrection” in the South, beginning the Civil War.

Emancipation Oak at Hampton University

September 22, 1862 

President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, granting freedom to 

enslaved Africans in areas of the South in active rebellion on January 1, 1863.

Two children freed by the 13th Amendment (1870)

1865

Slavery abolished in the U.S. by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

14th Amendent to the Constitution

1866

14th Amendment to the Constitution defines a citizen as anyone born in the 

U.S. (except Native Americans) or naturalized, thereby extending all rights of 

citizenship to African Americans. The American Missionary Association (formerly the Amistad Committee) founds Fisk University, among other historically black colleges.

“The First Vote” appeared in Harpers Weekly in 1867

1870

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. It gives African American 

men the right to vote, stating that the “right of citizens of the United States 

to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on 

account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Source: This timeline was derived from a timeline featured in the pamphlet “John Quincy Adams and the Amistad Event” produced 

by Adams National Historical Park.