Amistad Essay

Steven Spielberg’s Amistad clearly demonstrates how laws can be interpreted through the story of Spanish merchants who captured Joseph Cinqué, a man from Mende, Sierra Leone and hundreds of other people from various West African tribes. The Spaniards took the slaves aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad where Cinqué and the other slaves broke free of their shackles and began to revolt. The revolt set off a series of events that became the basis of a controversial court case that assessed elements of both Positive and Natural law, to decide whether the slaves were justified in their actions. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes was a firm believer in the theory of Positive Law and believed that it is a “body of rules formulated by the state, and that citizens are obligated to obey the law for the good of the state”. He believed that men were created equally and it is due to this equality that conflict occurs. In addition, Hobbes firmly believed that all individuals are inherently evil and this inherent evil also causes conflict. The theory of Positive Law is prevalent in the film Amistad through the primary actions of Cinqué and the other slaves. Through Hobbes’s positive law Cinqué …show more content…
The difference between Natural Law and Positive Law in general is why an individual commits a crime. In the case of United States v. Amistad victory is achieved for Cinqué and the others is due to evaluation of motives. When the Amistad case is viewed in regards to Positive Law, one can assume that Cinqué and the other slaves would have been punished because their motive would have been murder driven by competition, and evil. If the conflict was evaluated in regards to Natural Law, one could assume that the punishment would have been awarded to the Spaniards, as Cinqué’s violent actions would have been based on his motives to regain his