An Early Account of the Amistad Affair
Schooner Amistead. [within] United States Commercial & Statistical Register.
Philadelphia: William F. Geddes, 1839.
HAZARD, Samuel, [editor]. Schooner Amistead. [within] United States Commercial & Statistical Register Philadelphia: William F. Geddes, 1839.
Full Description:
[ANTI-SLAVERY]. HAZARD, Samuel, [editor]. Schooner Amistead. [The Amistad Affair] [within] United States Commercial & Statistical Register. Philadelphia: William F. Geddes. Wednesday, September 11, 1839.
An early account of the Amistad affair, (which led way to the Supreme Court case United States v. Schooner Amistad; 1841), printed within the United States Commercial & Statistical Register, published by William Geddes, and edited by Samuel Hazard. Volume I, number 12 of the Register, published on Wednesday, September 11, 1839. Quarto (11 1/4 x 8 inches; 285 x 205 mm). 16 pp. (Pages 177-192). Self-bound and hand-sewn with stab holes present on inner margin. Leaves are uncut. Some light foxing. Otherwise very good.
According to the caption above the article, "As important questions may arise out of the case of this Schooner, we think it best to record the following narrative of the circumstances, as far as they have been developed."
The Supreme court case that came about because of this incident is considered the most important court case involving slavery prior to the Dred Scott case.
"In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all of the treaties then in existence. Two Spanish plantation owners, Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz, purchased 53 Africans and put them aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad to ship them to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered Montes and Ruiz to sail to Africa. Montes and Ruiz actually steered the ship north; and on August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY, by the U.S. brig Washington. The schooner, its cargo, and all on board were taken to New London, CT. The plantation owners were freed and the Africans were imprisoned on charges of murder. Although the murder charges were dismissed, the Africans continued to be held in confinement and the case went to trial in the Federal District Court in Connecticut. The district court ruled that the case fell within Federal jurisdiction and that the claims to the Africans as property were not legitimate because they were illegally held as slaves. The U.S. District Attorney filed an appeal to the Supreme Court... In the trial before the Supreme Court, the Africans were represented by former U.S. President, and descendant of American revolutionaries, John Quincy Adams... For 8 ½ hours, the 73-year-old Adams passionately and eloquently defended the Africans' right to freedom on both legal and moral grounds, referring to treaties prohibiting the slave trade and to the Declaration of Independence. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans, stating that they were free individuals. Kidnapped and transported illegally, they had never been slaves. Senior Justice Joseph Story wrote and read the decision: "...it was the ultimate right of all human beings in extreme cases to resist oppression, and to apply force against ruinous injustice." The opinion asserted the Africans' right to resist "unlawful" slavery. The Court ordered the immediate release of the Amistad Africans. Thirty five of the survivors were returned to their homeland." (The National Archives).
HBS 69161.
$1,250.
Price: $1,250.00
Item #69161