La Amistad by. Zachary, Jay, Daniel and Cracco

The ship

A wooden two masted schooner

Originally a cargo ship later became a slave ship

Name means “Friendship”

Made in America

Revolt at Sea

Sailing from Havana to Cuba there was a revolt

The Africans used farming cane-knifes

Took complete control of the ship

Killed all but two spanish sailors

Sailing Home?

Not knowing how to sail the two Spaniards steered the ship

Trading the Spaniards their lives for the way to Africa

The Spaniards sailed them along the eastern coast of America

They were intercepted in Connecticut by the USS Washington

Legal or Illegal?

The biggest debate was on the legal status of the slaves

At this time transporting slaves across the Atlantic ocean was illegal

The Spaniards said that the slaves were from Cuba

Claims

Four claims were made by four completely different people

Queen Isabella II of Spain

The Cuban buyers

The American Naval Officers (under salvage property)

Or if they were free

The Court

After spending some time trying to find out where the slaves were born they finally established that they were in-fact born in Africa

Therefore they were obtained illegally

They were granted freedom

The Appeal

There were three appeals

this case went up to the supreme court who ruled they were illegally obtained

They were set free

Home at last

In 1842 the African slave who survived returned to Africa

The voyages cost was covered by the American Government

Sengbe Pieh

The Africans leader through this

Played a crucial role in their court cases

Later became a Slave trader himself

Slavery

This tale brought up tension between the north and the south

The north didn’t want war

The south wanted their slaves bad enough to go to war

Abolitionists

The fact that many of the supreme court judges were slave owners showed that the country was moving forward

This was one of the first times the black population had won

There was a war fought over slavery in the end but this proved that change was just around the corner

Important Names in the Trial

John Quincy Adams

Martin Van Buren

Theodore Joadson

Sengbe Pieh