Steven Spielberg's Adaptation Of Amistad

This publication supported the idea of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law. The purpose of this publication was to prove that slavery

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth century, approximately 650,000 black Africans had been abducted from their homelands and brought to the United States. Many had been shipped across the Atlantic Ocean with the complicity of New England rum merchants and traders. But by the 1800s, the slave trade had stopped and slavery was illegal in the North. Most slaves in America by then had been born into their abject state. Yet slavery, centered in the South, dominated American life. Its cast its long shadow over national politics, local and congressional debates, and all the issues of territorial expansion within the United States. Abraham Lincoln had a Quote “ A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free…” (lincoln 21)

In the 19th century there a two floored schooner named La Amistad, which is Spanish for “Friendship”. This schooner was built in the United States of American and was used by Cuba. In July 1839 there was a slave revolt led by captives from Sierra Leone. La Amistad was transporting these people to use as slave labor in Cuba. A man by the name of Cinque creatively used a nail to unlock his chains, and then his fellow captives. They were able to take control of the ship after having to kill the captain and other crew members that wouldn’t submit to their rule. They forcibly ordered the remaining crew to sail them back to Africa. The captives were outsmarted by the captives whom had control over the schooner’s directions. The remaining Spanish crew stir the ship to the coast of Long Island. The Mende people were arrested and imprisoned in Connecticut, were they waited during the court proceedings. Now is when the controversy began. The Spanish and there government ordered the U.S to return the slaves and there schooner as property. At the time in the U.S. slave trade was illegal so the U.S. governemnt refused to send back the Africans because technically there were free and not property. The court case United States v. Amistad in 1941 gained much popularity due to the subject matter of ownership and jurisdiction.

The thesis Webb Garrison is trying to display is that about a century before the privateers had been involved in trying to win the American Independence. On April 1861 the confederacy was free under international law to license privateers. The possibility that privateers could be captured and executed , the confederate government made a choice to use Union prisoners of war as

The story of Abina and the Important Men is about a girl named Abina and how she fought to be free instead of being treated as a slave. This story took place when slavery was outlawed, although where Abina lived, slavery was still practiced. “Instead, even after 1874 large numbers of children are imported into the colony as workers” (6). She knew what slavery was, in fact she was a slave before she was wrongfully sold to her new master. It wasn’t until she overheard her master claiming that all the slaves were in fact free. Once she learned about freedom, she wanted some. “They say that in the cape coast all are free” (7). Abina had run away towards the Coast. She was hoping for someone to help her achieve the freedom

It was significant because it was in the viewpoint of a former slave in an era in which slave trade dominated every European empire. Between 1492 A.D and 1820 A.D millions of Africans crossed the Atlantic to soon become a slave, and just over half arrived between 1700 A.D and 1800A.D. The slave trade was utilized by most European empires most notably England. England and its colonies profited immensely off the consumer goods produced by slaves. As rice, tobacco, sugar, and coffee were in growing demand so was the need for African slaves.

The slave trade put fear in the Southern States because they could carry on with the trade for another two decades. But the Northern States had to wait to protect the Union. The Southern States agreed to the Compromise because they thought it would die down. In order to Appease the South they passed the ‘Fugitive State Law’. The Fugitive State Law ordered the Northern States to deport any runaway slaves. Because of the taxes on importing the slaves they were considered as commodities.

As most of the slaves disobeyed the planters, they ended up taking over a quarter of the land surrounding a body of water. Regardless of support from the French, The mutineers had started to intensify the violence from both sides. As the fight started to end, many of blacks and whites were killed or suffered from injuries. The slaves were determined to get their rights so they would fight whoever got in there way to conquer their colony. The slave, I’Overture had grew the fight past hey T, winning against the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. He ended slavery in the Spanish colony and in return he was the new Commander of the island of

The attorney of Med’s owner counter-argued by saying that according to Louisiana law, Med was an object of property, like a book, and that property rights should be protected by sister states of the Union. He made an argument around comity in order to keep her as a slave. Comity is a practice in which different political entities recognize the other’s legislative, executive and political acts in their own space. This case raised questions around the meaning of slavery, comity and property. Aves lost the case because the law expressed that if a slave was a runaway, they had to be returned to their native state but, Med wasn’t a runaway. She had been brought to Massachusetts legally and because slavery had been abolished in this state she was free. Med was translated into legal discourse by the defendants as an object of no more importance than any other, as slaves were in the South. However, the legal geographies in the North were different and Med could be translated into legal discourse as a free person. Even though this case was based on racism and slavery, it was argued around

Cinque also learned only a few words, as opposed to the whole american language, which Olaudah did. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” focuses more on the harsh conditions on the slave ships while the “Amistad” story spends more time on the trial that set the slave free. Olaudah Equiano fought against slavery in England while Cinque and the Africans of the Amistad became a symbol of freedom for the abolitionist movement in Pre-Civil War America.

Prior to the Amistad being detained there was an uprising. A couple Africans killed “the captain and the cook.” However, they let the planters live and “ordered them to sail to Africa.” Once the boat was seized by an American military vessel, the planters were freed and the blacks were put in prison. They were charged with murder, however, that charge was dropped. The case, which became known as the Amistad Case, became more of a property rights case. Did Cuba, Spain, and whoever else claimed that these blacks belonged to them, have the right to own them and enslave them? In the movie, the young lawyer, named Baldwin struggled to win the case the first time around, because he did not have enough evidence to prove that the blacks were in fact from Africa

In 1823, US circuit courts declared removal of inhuman treatment of slaves. In 1826, kidnapping is a felony which effectively nullified fugitive slaves act, stopping all ability for slave owners to gain more slaves in the states, and importation of slaves was already outlawed. This hurt the slave trade significantly and put the colonies into the panic of 1837. There was a downturn in the economy, cotton prices fell, inflated food prices and high unemployment all due to the downfall and outlawing of slavery. 1840, An African American by the name of Charles Remond, refused to beat seated at world anti slavery convention because the women were segregated in the gallery, showing the first sign of women’s rights.

Slave trade had been outlawed in the United States colonies for almost 30 years and in Spain for 19. Feeling something was wrong with the stories surrounding this vessel, Mr. Hollabird ordered a judicial hearing. The call for the hearing was not out of concern for the Africans, but, Mr. Hollabird, as a representative of the law, had to follow legal procedures of an investigation. The matter of murder, piracy, salvage rights and more sent this case to trial, and the Africans were placed in detainment under the custody of the US Marshall. The case appeared before Judge Andrew Judson.

In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all

From 1641 up until 1865 Africans were captured by slavers and sold into slavery on Southern American plantations. British colonials viewed them as no more than personal property, as the Africans were not under British rule and were not protected under British law (History). Thus, during this time period blacks in slavery did not hold any rights at all (History). Those who were able to buy their freedom were treated as second-class