The Amistad

Federal Trials and Great Debates 

in United States History

Courtesy: Chicago Historical Society

Europeans and Americans enslaved millions of Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries.

They were taken across the Atlantic in cramped and unsanitary ships.

Many died at sea.

Congress banned the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, although slavery continued in parts of the U.S. 

While many other countries also banned the slave trade, illegal trading persisted. 

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

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Conditions on slave ships were inhumane

Courtesy: Library of Congress

Voyage of the Amistad

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Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute

In 1839, slavers took more than 500 people from the Mende region of Africa (now Sierra Leone) to Cuba.

The Spanish Empire had banned the slave trade, but Cuba did not always comply.

Spanish planters bought 49 Mende men and 4 children in Havana.

They transported them along the coast of Cuba in a ship called L’Amistad.

Voyage of the Amistad

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Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute

The Mende rebelled aboard the ship, killing several of their captors.

They tried to force the planters to sail them back to Africa.

At night, however, the planters steered the ship north and west.

After two months, the Amistad neared Long Island Sound.

A U.S. Navy vessel brought the ship to shore in CT.

Criminal Allegations

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Associate Justice Smith Thompson

Courtesy: Library of Congress

The U.S. Attorney attempted to indict the Mende for murder and piracy.

Associate Justice Smith Thompson ruled U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction over the alleged crimes.

This was because the acts were committed on a foreign vessel at sea.

However, there were many lingering legal issues involving the Mende.

The Mende claimed they had been kidnapped and should be free to return home.

The naval officer who brought the Amistad ashore made a “salvage” claim for saving the ship and its human “cargo.”

The planters produced falsified documents claiming the Mende were slaves from Cuba and demanded their return.

The Spanish government demanded the Mende be sent back to Cuba under a treaty with the U.S.

President Martin Van Buren’s administration supported Spain’s position and claimed the courts could not question the Spanish legal documents.

Competing Legal Claims

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These claims raised complex questions of maritime, property, and international law.

Many of the claims were related to the issue of the Mende’s freedom.

American and Spanish law recognized property rights to enslaved people, but no one could “own” free people.

Freedom v. Property

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District Judge Andrew Judson

Courtesy: Connecticut Historical Society

The claims were tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Although the case did not involve the validity of slavery itself, it drew much attention from both sides of that debate.

Abolitionists worried that Judge Andrew Judson would rule against the Mende.

Freedom v. Property

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District Judge Andrew Judson

Courtesy: Connecticut Historical Society

Sengbe Pieh (known as “Cinque”) was the unofficial leader of the Mende revolt.

His testimony about their enslavement and mistreatment captured the public’s attention.

Judge Judson ruled the Mende were not legally enslaved and had to be returned to Africa.

The Trial

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Sengbe Pieh (“Cinque”)

Courtesy: Library of Congress

The U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut upheld Judge Judson’s ruling.

The U.S. government appealed to the Supreme Court on Spain’s behalf.

Former President John Quincy Adams helped represent the Mende at the Supreme Court.

He argued that sending the Mende to Cuba as slaves would violate their “natural rights.” 

Government lawyers argued that the U.S. had to return the Mende to Cuba.

Appeals

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John Quincy Adams

Courtesy: Library of Congress

The Supreme Court ruled in the Mende’s favor.

Justice Joseph Story wrote that the Mende had been kidnapped and  “unlawfully transported to Cuba[.]”

It did not matter what documents the planters had if they were fraudulent.

Moreover, he noted that the U.S. was “bound to respect [Africans’] rights as much as those of Spanish subjects.”

The Supreme Court’s Ruling

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Associate Justice Joseph Story

Courtesy: Collection of the Supreme court of the United States

Unlike Judge Judson, the Supreme Court did not require the government to return the Mende to Africa.

Abolitionists organized a series of public appearances for the Mende to earn money for their return.

The trial had drawn such attention that the 35 remaining Mende were soon able to return to their homeland.

Cinque became a particularly popular figure among abolitionists and African Americans.

Aftermath and Legacy

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This romanticized portrait of Cinque 

was widely reproduced

Courtesy: New Haven Colony Association

Although it did not challenge the legality of slavery itself, Amistad was the first major federal case involving slavery.

Many historians have argued later pro-slavery opinions deepened the regional divide over slavery.

Slavery was abolished in 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War.

Aftermath and Legacy

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The Supreme Court ruled against 

Dred Scott in a notorious 1857 

case involving slavery and race

Courtesy: Library of Congress

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