Amistad Journey

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

     Both, “The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories about slavery in pre-civil war america because they both address the issues of slavery. These gentlemen in the story made a difference in the slave trade. In “The life of Olaudah Equiano”, Olaudah was sold on a slave ship that came to the Barbados. Olaudah worked for his freedom, and in the end became efficient in American language. He worked his way to the free life and in the end it worked out for him, although it leaves scars on his soul. In “Amistad”, Cinque is a slave that leads a revolt on a slave ship after escaping. When they get to america, Baldwin, a

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln declared that all people held as slaves within the rebel states, are now and forever free. This quote is especially important because it demonstrates the effects on society after the Proclamation was signed. Because of these effects, the focus turned from war into the societal “problems” that this Proclamation brought about. The Emancipation was a “turning point in national policy and in the character of war.” Lincoln knew that the residents of the border states would never support abolition as a war aim, therefore he did

The Civil War is something almost everyone has a general idea about. It is more than a huge part of America’s history and is the central event in America 's historical consciousness. This war, unlike the American Revolution which created the first American states, determined what kind of nation it would be. Though there are many reasons for the cause of the American Civil War, one of the main reasons is the different attitudes the North and the South had toward slavery. In January of 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation was

The Amistad was a Spanish ship built in Baltimore for the purpose of transporting slaves. For three years, it sailed the high seas delivering its cargo to various locations. But in August of 1838, a scandalous injustice was uncovered after the ship was seized by an American vessel, the USS Washington, a coast guard ship under the command of Lt. Thomas R. Gedney. Lt. Gedney and his crew towed the Amistad into a New England harbor in Connecticut where soon many controversies amounted and drama would unfold.

During the early 1860's the discussions over states v. Union rights had reached its breaking point and outraged the South seceded from the union. The following years would see not only one of the nations bloodiest wars, but the period of reconstruction that was to follow. Freed slaves now had to find their place within a nation that was less that ready to except them. The battle between legislature passed down by the government and the social ideologies of the past began both during and after the period of reconstruction as it was made evident that changing the minds of the current generation would not be easy. While the years 1860-1877 brought major constitutional changes regarding the rights of African Americans following the civil war,

After years in the court system the Justices, in a 7-2 vote, finally concluded four major points that would effect the nation in the years leading up to the Civil War. First, the Supreme Court found that African Americans were not citizens. Chief Justice Roger Taney, from Maryland, and a former slaveowner who eventually emancipated his slaves wrote that slaves were “to be bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it.” In other words Scott was not a citizen and therefore didn’t even have the right to have his case heard in a court of law.2 This finding was in direct opposition of some northern states, who’s constitutions had declared free black men citizens. Secondly, since slaves are property, the property owner has the right to move their property to or through free states and territories.

Two positives of Van Buren's presidency included leading a full democracy and establishing an independent treasury. Later, in 1839, 53 African slaves took over the Amistad ship. The Amistad arrived to the United States from Cuba which presented conflict between Van Buren and former president John Quincy Adams. The problem was that Van Buren wanted the slaves to be returned to Cuba, whereas Adams thought that their safety was in jeopardy and should be set free or returned to Africa. After much thought and consideration, Adams won and the slaves were returned

The situation turned very dire for the anti-slavery men when the Supreme Court made the Dred Scott v. Stanford decision. The Dred Scott v. Stanford case took place when a black slave named Dred Scott sued his master for his freedom. Dred Scott argued that he deserved freedom because he had served his master for five years on free territory. The ruling by the Supreme Court said that since Dred Scott was a slave, his master’s private property, the Constitution did not allow the government to deprive someone of their property without due process of law. Also, as a slave, the court could have dismissed the case then and there, but they made a ruling and took it one step farther.

"Two months after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, one abolitionist wrote that 'to make the proclamation a success, we must make freedom a blessing to the freed.' The question of how to do so would long outlive Lincoln and the Civil War" (Epilogue, p. 361). My summary is of the fourth chapter of “The Fiery Trial” novel. In March of 1857 the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scot decision saying that the founding fathers didn’t include African Americans in the wording of their constitution. This decision sent a ripple through the country and further divided the country over the issue of slavery. Lincoln gave his House Divided speech during the convention of 1860 and suggested that the United States should either embrace slavery in

The dramatic story of the Amistad, which was featured in a major motion picture that opened in December, is found among the court records at the National Archives - Northeast Region at Waltham, MA, and in the Supreme Court records at the National Archives in Washington, DC. In 1839, 53 African natives were kidnapped .from an area now known as Sierra Leone and illegally sold into the Spanish slave trade. They were transported to Havana, Cuba and sold at auction as native Cuban slaves to two "Spanish gentlemen." The Spaniards were transporting the Africans and other cargo to another part of Cuba on board the Spanish schooner Amistad when the Africans staged a revolt, seizing control of the schooner, killing the captain and the cook, and driving off the rest of the crew. The two "Spanish gentlemen" were ordered to sail back to Africa. By day, the Spaniards sailed eastward and by night they surreptitiously sailed westward, hoping to land back in Cuba or the southern United States. The ship was seized and towed to New London, Connecticut, where the imprisoned Africans began a lengthy legal battle to win back their

Steven Spielberg’s film the Amistad has been shown in American classrooms to teach a historical landmark case. Controversy has arisen because some of the facts in the film are misleading. With that knowledge, should the Amistad film continue to be used as an educational tool? Both the movie and the actual event take place in 1839 Fifty-three Mende’s were captured and taken to Havana. (Amistad) In the movie the African’s gain control of the Amistad and kill many of the crew members, but in reality they only killed two crew members and left two alive. I think the director of the Amistad did this because he wanted to add his own twist to the film. He made it so the movie would be more dramatic, exciting, and interesting. The Amistad film should

Cinque was An African farmer of the Mende tribe, who is kidnapped from his West African home and sold into slavery. After leading a revolt against the Spanish crew of the slave ship Amistad, he soon finds himself on trial for murder in a small courthouse in the state of Connecticut. Roger Baldwin a Connecticut real estate lawyer who agrees to work for Cinque and his fellow slaves by trying to prove in court that they were not born slaves, and therefore could not legally ever become slaves. John Quincy Adams The sixth President of the US 1825-1829, who was in fact a Congressman from Massachusetts in 1839, who agrees to work for the release of Cinque and his fellow slaves. Martin Van Buren The 8th President of the United States, and a silly politician who was most concerned that the problems with the Amistad did not lead to his defeat in the election of 1840.Queen of Spain had a right to the slaves since they were the property of two Spanish

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

And doing so Joseph acquired a nail that he have found in the chains to unlock the shackles from him and his people and a result of acquiring weapons out of a wooden crate after setting him and his people free with the nail that was dug from the chains, Joseph was able to conquer the ship killing all of the slave owners except two, which were the Jose Ruiz and pedro montes these two were the initial slave owners of the “La amistad” ship. The only reason the two men were left alive was to steer the ship back to Sierra Leone in other words home for the Africans but little the Africans know that the ship was only staring East for the daytime and Northwest for the night time. While making an attempt to head home numerous account occurred involving different ships passing by. While the ships would pass by the slaves with have to remain