Amistad Trial Research Paper

In 1839, 53 African slaves that were illegally purchased were transported from Cuba were able to take over the ship named Amistad. During the process, they killed a couple of the crew members and ordered the crew members to steer to ship back to Africa. However, the ship was intercepted by an American brig off the coast of Long Island. The Americans soon found out about their past actions and imprisoned them. During their imprisonment, President Martin Van Buren, along with many other urged for the prisoners to be extradited back to Cuba. On the other hand, abolitionists and other northern officials wanted an American trial for them. In the end, a trial did happen and this trial greatly impacted the United States. The court judges decided that these slaves were not guilty, so they were granted their freedom. Furthermore, this trial made many people feel sympathy towards the slaves, improved the living style for freed slaves, and laid the foundation of abolishing slavery in the future. …show more content…
Before this trial, slaves were usually not given any rights and not allowed to appear in court at all, but this trial showed the public that freedom for slaves could be possible. Furthermore, “Efforts began to raise the money necessary to transport the Amistads back to their Mende homeland”(Law 1). With the support from the public, many slaves were freed and able to return back their homeland. This made many slaves have hope in the anti-slavery movement again. Moreover, even though some slaves were not allowed to return back to their country, some of them were freed by their owners. When the slaves became free, many of them were able to obtain education and jobs in the society, which would be a great improvement when considering their old treatments. So, this trial brought many slaves their freedom since many people began to feel sympathy towards