Amistad 315returned immediately to Cuba. Van Buren had issued secret
orders that the Africans were to be returned to Cuba before
an appeal could be fi led. However, it was the Van Buren
administration that fi led an appeal. Aft er the decision was
affi rmed by Judge Th ompson, the administration appealed
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On February 22, 1841, 18 months aft er the Amistad
Africans arrived in Connecticut, the case was brought be-
fore the U.S. Supreme Court. Five of the nine justices on
the court were either current or former slaveholders. Tap-
pan enlisted former president and then congressman John
Quincy Adams to defend the Mende. Adams appealed to
the principles of natural rights underlying the Declara-
tion of Independence and argued that the Africans had the
inherent right of freedom. He also argued that by Spain’s
own laws, the detainees were free persons. He reprimanded
President Van Buren for dispatching the Grampus and for
withholding and forging vital documents relevant to the
Africans’ defense. Adams’ powerful seven-hour argument
earned him the nickname “Old Man Eloquent.”
On March 9, 1841, the Supreme Court, dominated by
Southern sympathizers, issued a landmark ruling based on
the universal right of all people to resist extreme oppres-
sion. Th e verdict declared that the Amistad Africans were
free persons. Th e court decisions did not quell the political
confl ict raised by the Amistad case. Proslavery senator John
Calhoun authored resolutions calling for the return of the
Africans to Spain. President John Tyler, who had succeeded
Van Buren by the time the Supreme Court rendered the de-
cision, refused to provide a ship for the Africans’ return.
Th e Amistad Committee and the Mende raised money to
charter a ship.
In November 1841, the 34 Africans who had survived
the Amistad and its trials sailed to Sierra Leone aboard the
Gentleman. Th ey were accompanied by fi ve American mis-
sionaries, including two African Americans, Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Wilson, and three white Americans, Rev. and Mrs.
William Raymond and Rev. James Steele. Th e Amistad
Committee, which became the American Missionary As-
sociation in 1846, inaugurated American missionary activ-
ity in Africa when they established the Mendi Mission in
Sierra Leone. One of the former Amistad captives, Margru,
returned to the United States to study at Oberlin College to
prepare for her missionary work in Sierra Leone. Th e estab-
lishment of mission schools in Sierra Leone had far-reaching
eff ects. Two of their graduates, Barnabas Root and Th omasMontes changed Sengbe Pieh’s name to Jose Cinque in
order to suggest his Spanish origins. However, the fact that
four of the captives were children under 9 years of age be-
lied the possibility that their birth preceded the 20-year-
old treaty. Th e fact that none of the captives spoke Spanish
was also a counter-indicator. However, despite the eff orts
of British patrollers to deter the trade, it was not uncom-
mon for Spanish slavers to operate successfully with forged
documents.
In October 1839, Tappan encouraged some of the
Amistad Africans to bring charges against Montes and Ruiz
for false imprisonment and assault and battery. Aft er the
Spaniards were arrested in New York City, they paid their
bail and absconded to Cuba. Montes and Ruiz claimed An-
tonio, the Amistad’s cabin boy, as their property. Because
Antonio had been born in Spain, he was considered a slave
under Spanish law; thus, the court ordered his return to
Cuba. However, before the trials concluded, American abo-
litionists helped Antonio escape to freedom in Canada.
During the civil trial for the Amistad case in Novem-
ber, the defense presented evidence for the Africans’ legal
standing as free persons. Baldwin argued that the Af-
ricans had not been born into legal slavery in Cuba, but
kidnapped illegally from Sierra Leone. Gibbs testifi ed that
the defendants did not speak Spanish but Mende. Th e Brit-
ish antislavery commissioner to Cuba, Richard Madden,
testifi ed to the persistence of an illegal slave trade in Cuba
based on fraudulent documents. Ultimately, Madden re-
layed the case directly to England’s Queen Victoria. Sengbe,
via James Covey, testifi ed to the Africans’ experience and
their brutal treatment by their captors. Sengbe’s presence
and charisma impressed more than a few of the Americans,
and his testimony deeply moved many of the trial’s observ-
ers. Th e attorney representing Gedney attempted to argue
that Cinque was a slave trader. Several of the Mende testi-
fi ed, as did the Afro-Spaniard Antonio. Holabird presented
testimony from the crew of the Washington and off ered
statements from the Spanish consul urging the return of the
Amistad captives and cargo to Spanish jurisdiction.
On January 13, 1840, Judge Judson ruled that the
Africans had been born free and captured in violation of
international law prohibiting the slave trade and the Anglo-
Spanish treaty of 1817. Th e decision deeply disappointed
President Van Buren, who, in anticipation of a decision
favoring Spanish jurisdiction, had docked the naval ship
Grampus in New Haven so that the Africans might be