Dennis J. Curran — The Amistad Trials: What Price Freedom?

Dennis J. Curran

The issue of slavery versus freedom reared its ugly head in this American court case, more than two decades before the Civil War exploded in 1861, concerning the fate of a group of Africans after they rebelled aboard the Spanish schooner La Armistad (“Friendship”) in 1839. This trial pitted the American government against the Spanish government, President Martin Van Buren against Secretary of State John Forsyth, the executive branch against the judicial branch, and abolitionists against slave traders. It even prompted Former President John Quincy Adams to appear before the Supreme Court to condemn the policies of the present administration. It is considered to have been one of the most important court cases involving slavery until it was overshadowed by Dred Scott v Sandford in 1857. This case finally received the recognition it deserved from Stephen Spielberg’s 1997 Academy Award-nominated feature film, Amistad.