The Amistad Seizure (also known as the Amistad Incident, the Amistad Rebellion, the Amistad Mutiny, and Amistad Revolt) was a conflict aboard the Spanish schooner La Amistad in July 1839, off the coast of Cuba, during which free Blacks, who had been illegally kidnapped from Africa to be sold as slaves, took over the ship, killed crew members, and demanded return to their home in Mendeland (modern-day Sierra Leone, West Africa). Instead, the ship's owners secretly steered them toward the United States, where the ship was seized and the resulting court case – United States v. The Amistad (1841) – became the most famous of its time.
The ship (whose name means "friendship") and its human cargo were claimed by Spain (as it was a Spanish ship), by the Cuban owners, and by Lt. Thomas R. Gedney of the brig Washington, who had brought La Amistad into port at New London, Connecticut, and so sought salvage rights. To determine which of these claims was valid, the court first had to establish the status of the 49 African adults and 3 children found on board – whether they were slaves or free – and this was extremely difficult as all of them only spoke their native tongues.
The administration of President Martin van Buren was eager to resolve the case quickly and extradite the Africans to Cuba, but the abolitionists of Connecticut, led by the lawyer Lewis Tappan raised funds for their legal defense, found an interpreter, and, after the case was finally heard by the US Supreme Court, where the Africans were defended by former president and lawyer John Quincy Adams, they were freed and eventually returned home.
The case received international attention as it focused on the issue of slavery, what defined a "slave", and whether enslaved people had the right to armed revolt in securing their freedom. It also brought to light discrepancies between established laws regarding the slave trade and how those were skirted by various parties. The media covered the case extensively right from the start, and these stories were eventually heard by the slave Madison Washington, inspiring his leadership of the Creole Mutiny/Creole Rebellion of 1841.
The decision of United States v. The Amistad (1841) also generated widespread support for the abolitionist movement in the North, enraged pro-slavery factions in the South, and further escalated conflict between the two in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
The Amistad Seizure
The people who eventually wound up at the center of the Amistad case were kidnapped from their various villages in the modern-day Sierra Leone region of West Africa at some point in February 1839. They were sold to Portuguese slave traders who loaded them onto the slave ship Tecora and took them to Cuba.
England and the United States had abolished the international slave trade by this time, and Spain, allied to England, had, too, but refused to outlaw slavery in its colonies and allowed for the transfer, by ship or any other means, of slaves between different points. Slave traders could get around the laws prohibiting the international slave trade by filling their ships' holds with kidnapped people on the coast of Africa, sailing to a port like Havana, Cuba, and then claiming the "slaves" on board had been born in Cuba and were only being transported from one place to another.
The men, women, and children were unloaded from the Tecora and sold at a market in Havana. 53 of them were purchased by Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes, who planned to sell them in Puerto Principe, Cuba. La Amistad, captained by its owner Ramon Ferrer, was hired for transport and left Havana on 28 June 1839 for Puerto Principe, a journey that should have taken only four days.
La Amistad was not a slave ship, but a domestic cargo schooner 120 feet (37 m) long with a small hold. As it could not accommodate the 53 Africans below deck, many were kept above and, although all were restrained by shackles, could move about freely, and, as was later revealed, learn about the ship and who among the crew could steer it.
On the night of 1 July 1839, one of the men below deck, Sengbe Pieh (better known as Joseph Cinque, circa 1814 to circa 1879) found a rusty file (or was given it by a fellow prisoner), broke his padlock, freed himself, and then freed the others. Early in the morning of 2 July, they came up on deck to take control of the ship, as described by scholar Marcus Rediker:
A group of four men – Cinque, Faquorna, Moru, and Kimbo – led the way as they climbed up and out of the hatchway onto the main deck. They moved with the grace and precision of warriors accustomed to daring midnight attacks. They picked up belaying pins and barrel staves and stole over to the ship's boat where the mulatto cook and slave sailor Celestino lay sleeping. They bludgeoned him to death. As more men escaped their irons and swarmed up on deck, they opened a box of cane knives, tools they were meant to use in cutting sugar cane, but which would now serve the purpose of self-emancipation.
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Two Africans were killed in taking the ship, Captain Ferrer was killed, and two deckhands escaped in a small boat. The Africans spared Ruiz, Montes, and Ferrer's slave, Antonio, because they had observed that these three could navigate the ship and return them to their home. Ruiz and Montes agreed to take them back but then secretly steered them north toward the United States, where, they hoped, the ship would be seized by authorities and their 'property' returned to them.
Arrest, Prison & Claims
La Amistad had only been provisioned with supplies for the short trip between Havana and Puerto Principe and so was forced to stop at islands for fresh water (though where these islands were is unclear). Over six weeks later, on 26 August, the ship was found off Long Island, New York, by the USRC (United States Revenue-Marine) brig Washington, which was engaged in surveying. The captain of the Washington, Lt. Thomas R. Gedney, took La Amistad and towed it to the port of New London, Connecticut, where the Africans were placed into the custody of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
According to the testimony of Ruiz and Montes, the Africans were slaves who had taken the ship and murdered the crew, and so all 53 were remanded to prison. The Ruiz/Montes version of the story gained momentum quickly, and the imprisoned Africans became media celebrities, as described by Rediker:
A mere six days after the vessel had been towed into port, a drama troupe at New York's Bowery Theatre performed a play about its story of mutiny and piracy. Commercial artists converged on the jail where the Amistad Africans were incarcerated, drew images of Cinque, the leader of the rebellion, reproduced them quickly and cheaply, and had them hawked by boys on the streets of eastern cities…Meantime, thousands of people lined up daily to pay admission and walk through the jails of New Haven and Hartford to get a glimpse of the Amistad rebels, who were "political prisoners" before that phrase had been invented.
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Following the Ruiz/Montes narrative, this seemed to be a murder case, but Lt. Gedney filed suit claiming salvage rights since he had found the ship while, at the same time, the captains of other boats – which had either seen or approached La Amistad before Gedney – made similar claims. The Spanish government demanded the return of the ship and its 'cargo' as La Amistad was a Spanish ship with a Spanish crew, and then there were Ruiz and Montes and their claim to the 53 Africans they insisted were legally purchased slaves. These claims turned a murder case into one concerning property rights: to whom did the 53 Africans belong? If, in fact, they belonged to anyone.
The abolitionists of Connecticut saw an opportunity here to help the Africans and also, potentially, garner greater support for their cause, and so Lewis Tappan, Simeon Jocelyn, and Joshua Leavitt formed the Amistad Committee to raise funds for the legal defense of the Mende. Roger Sherman Baldwin signed on as their attorney.
Before they could go to court, however, Baldwin needed to know what had happened aboard La Amistad and what the Africans had to say about their status as free or slave. The abolitionists enlisted the help of the linguist Professor J.W. Gibbs, also devoted to the abolitionist cause, who visited the Africans in prison and, using a handful of coins, had them count out loud to ten. He determined the language most of them spoke was Mende, and then went to the docks of New London and New Haven, Connecticut, and New York City, counting to ten out loud in Mende. Two sailors, James Covey and Charles Pratt, recognized the language, and so Gibbs had found his interpreters. Covey, a former slave, would serve as interpreter throughout all the following proceedings.
Trial & Conflict
Once Baldwin could communicate with the Africans, Joseph Cinque became the main speaker for the group and explained how they had come to be on board La Amistad. Baldwin then filed charges of kidnapping, assault, and false imprisonment against Ruiz and Montes, who were arrested and held until they posted bail and fled to Cuba. The charges against two White businessmen brought on account of Black prisoners outraged the pro-slavery faction in the US as well as in Spain.
US statesman and pro-slavery advocate John C. Calhoun, as well as the Spanish ambassador, pressed the Van Buren administration to process the case quickly and return the 53 Africans and the ship to Spain, citing stipulations in treaties between the US and Spain and that the Africans were clearly slaves guilty of insurrection. The Van Buren administration could do nothing outright, however, since the executive branch could not interfere with the judicial.
This did not stop Martin Van Buren from trying, however, and he ordered a ship sent to Connecticut to load the prisoners and carry them to Cuba for trial and punishment. Van Buren worried he would lose the Southern vote in his bid for re-election if the Amistad rebels were freed, and so he needed to prevent that. Before that plan could be fully enacted, though, the case was heard before the US District Court for the District of Connecticut. Baldwin argued that no one was entitled to claim the 53 Mende as property because they had never been slaves but were free and had been illegally kidnapped. The documents found aboard La Amistad, which were presented as proof that the 53 had all been born slaves in Cuba, were identified as forgeries.
District Court Judge Andrew T. Judson ruled in favor of the Africans in January 1840 and ordered they be returned to Mendeland at the expense of the US government. All claims on the captives were dismissed, but Lt. Gedney was allowed one-third of whatever cargo was left on La Amistad as salvage rights.
The US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, acting on orders from Van Buren, appealed the case to the US Circuit Court, which upheld the lower court's decision. The US Attorney's Office then appealed the case again, this time to the US Supreme Court.
Supreme Court & John Quincy Adams
Baldwin and Tappan called upon the legal expertise of former president and attorney John Quincy Adams, who was then the US Representative from Massachusetts. Adams had been approached before in the case, as he was a known abolitionist, but had declined, citing his age and how long it had been since he had practiced law. When asked this time, however, he agreed to help.
In appearing before the Supreme Court in February 1841, Baldwin made the opening remarks, citing how the lower courts had already determined the Africans were free and that the Spanish government had no claim on them.
Adams then addressed the court, citing legal precedent and dismissing the claims of Spain and the Van Buren Administration by citing legal precedent and the specifics of the treaties both Spain and Van Buren kept insisting must be honored by sending the Africans back to Cuba as prisoners. Adams' speech included a direct rebuke of the Van Buren Administration for interfering in a judicial matter for its own selfish ends and appealed to the concepts embodied in the Declaration of Independence in arguing that Joseph Cinque and the others had only done what anyone had a right to do in securing for themselves life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
On 9 March 1841, United States v. The Amistad (1841) was decided in favor of the Africans. Associate Justice Joseph Story read the court's decision, which completely upheld those of the lower courts. The Africans were ordered to be set free, but no provision was made for their return home.
Farmington & Return
By this time, some of the Africans had died in prison, and only 36 remained. The abolitionists took these to the town of Farmington, Connecticut – a well-known stop on the Underground Railroad and considered a major 'depot' for fugitive slaves heading north – where they were taken in by families or quartered in barracks. The Africans learned English while teaching the Americans their language and also showed the Farmington residents how to better cultivate rice and harvest healthier crops. The Africans were also tutored in Christianity, and as the missionaries learned more of their language, it was discovered that they were not of a single tribe or village but were members of at least seven different tribes and diverse locations.
The Amistad Committee, having raised the funds that paid for their legal expenses, had now switched focus to raising money to send them back home. This now seemed quite difficult since the Africans were not, as previously thought, of one tribe in one location, and, if they were simply returned to Mendeland without properly identifying either tribe or village, they could be re-enslaved and wind up back in Cuba on a sugar plantation.
It was therefore decided that the Amistad Committee would fund a mission to Sierra Leone, under British protection, that would provide a safe haven for returning ex-slaves until they could be reunited with their families. By the time the funds were raised and a ship procured, only 35 of the original 53 Africans remained, and these, along with James Covey as interpreter and the missionaries, landed in Sierra Leone in early 1842.
Conclusion
The story of the seizure of La Amistad held the attention of the world between August 1839 and March 1841 and, afterwards, became a point of pride for the abolitionists and a sore spot for pro-slavery factions. In time, however, this would change, as noted by Rediker:
The fascination would not last. After the Civil War, the memory of the Amistad waned, barely kept alive by two related groups: abolitionists and African American writers and artists who wanted to glory in victory and remember the long, arduous struggle against slavery. In the dark times of Social Darwinism and scientific racism, the Amistad uprising faded from public view. It disappeared from histories of the United States written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and, indeed, it saw no major revival until new social movements exploded in the 1960's and 1970's. Especially important in this regard were the civil rights and black power movements with their demands for a new history of the United States that took seriously the long, bloody battle against slavery and racism.
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As Rediker also notes, the Amistad Seizure and resulting court case received wider attention after the release of the major motion picture Amistad in 1997, directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Djimon Hounsou as Joseph Cinque. The Spielberg film generated new interest in the story of La Amistad and inspired the creation of the Freedom Schooner Amistad in 2000, a modern-day replica of La Amistad operated by the non-profit educational organization Amistad America, Inc. The modern ship serves to educate the public on the history of slavery in the United States and keeps alive the story of the 53 Africans who claimed for themselves the basic human right to freedom.
