Essay About Young Attorney And British Navy

Amistad
Amistad
The true story of the August 25, 1839 revolt on the Spanish slave ship La
Amistad. The slaves were from Sierra Leone, West Africans who had been borne
across the vast ocean to Havana, Cuba in an abusive Portuguese slave ship. Sold
there at a slave auction and moved to the bowels of the Amistad (“Friendship” in
Spanish), where they were chained like wild animals, the 44 African slaves had
released themselves through a bloody insurrection on the high seas. Their leader
was a tall, muscular man in his mid 20s, whose name is known as Cinque. While in
the Amistad for transport to another part of the island, the Africans broke free,
killing the captain, the chef and other crewmates. It was not long before a U.S.
Navy brig, the Washington, appeared and seized the Amistad and all its slaves on
board. They were taken to New London, Conn., a state where slavery would not
become illegal until 1848.
Looking out for the Africans interests are abolitionists Theodore Joadson
(Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Roger
Baldwin (Michael McConaughey), a young attorney struggling practice. I
Connecticut, the captives initially were charged with murder and piracy.
Eventually, the Amistad Africans case makes it to the Supreme Court, with former
President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) arguing on their behalf.
Unfortunately, President Martin Van Buren was testifying against Martin Van
Buren. On February 22, 1841, the Supreme Court arguments began, and the
attorney general and Baldwin laid out the same opposing cases that had been made
in New Haven. Then Adams turned his declamatory guns on Van Buren. He said,
“It was nothing more than a question of justice vs. injustice”. The Supreme Court
upheld the District Court decision. The Amistad Africans were free. But the
abolitionists who supported them wanted to save their souls as well as their bodies.
For about nine months the Africans studied the Bible, hymn-singing and the
English language, so that they could return to Africa to spread the Christian faith.
On November 27, 1841, Cinque and his friends, along with some Christian
missionaries, Sailed for Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the ship Gentlemen. John
Adams scrupulous man, had one more detail to attend to. He asked the marshal of
The District of Connecticut to amend the 1840s federal census so that the Africans
would appear as free men.
Many groups and people were claiming the slaves. In the beginning of the
movie, when the slaves get captured, Queen Isabella of Spain argues that the
Africans are rightfully hers, declaring that the passengers were Cuban-born slaves,
the British Navy lay a counter claim since, as they maintain, the passengers were not
slaves, but free people illegally captured in West Africa. Also the Spanish
government immediately claimed ownership of the slaves and urged that they be
returned to Havana, Cuba, for a murder trial. When the captives were charged
with murder and piracy, a legal issue later centered on attempts to have the captives
returned to the