Amistad Case Study

The Amistad , a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, was about a slave ship, that became entrenched in American politics between 1839 and 1841. The Amistad was involved in not only a controversial supreme court case, but also exposed the brutality of slavery, the growing division between the American people, corruption and the American political system. The Supreme Court case that involved the Amistad was a very significant case because it embodied the mentalities and practices of the The United States of America at the time. The Amistad case also affected how the Northern and Southern states would get along in the future. Furthermore, the Amistad case spurned greater division among the American states eventually it lead to the American Civil …show more content…
The moral corruption of men due to slavery was caused by the European teaching, that is men were taught to see Africans as unequal human beings. This was demonstrated in the movie, when suggestions were about treating slaves as property or livestock. Even the defending attorney of the Africans, Roger Sherman Baldwin, pitched the idea to make this slave case about property to the abolitionists who were trying to help the Africans obtain freedom. Sherman stated that one can win a case over property, and that he was in fact a lawyer who specifically deals with property cases. Due to the fact that people in Europe and America viewed Africans as unequal, both Americans and Europeans believed they could treat Africans as livestock. This type of moral corruption lead to the despicable brutality seen in the movie and it also lead to political corruption. The men were also morally corrupted due to how lucrative the slave trade was. They often did not care about their actions because they believed it was worth it due to the amount of money they were making. In many illegal activities, brutality is seen and used in order to make money. In today 's world terrible atrocities are still committed over financial …show more content…
Two of those victories came at the state level and another came in the Supreme Court. The reason for the case being heard three times until finally it reached the Supreme Court level was because of political corruption. The Secretary of State at the time, John Forsyth, was under pressure from the South, Spain, and the President, Martin Van Buren, to make sure the Africans remained property of Spain. In order to earn the favor of the judge, Forsyth replaced the judge and eliminated the jury. Instead, Forsyth placed a young judge at the stand in order to gain a rule against the Africans. The reason behind Forsyth’s plan to acquire a young judge was because of the ability to manipulate his ruling utilizing things such as reputation and