Amistad Slave Ship Analysis

“Some people say, Mendi people no have souls. Why we feel bad, we no have no souls? We want to be free very much.” This is a part of a letter that Kale, an African of the Mendi tribe, wrote to John Quincy Adams. Kale, coming from nothing, learned enough English while abroad then Amistad Slave Ship. Africans of the Mendi tribe struggled to regain freedom after Spanish abuse. Sometime in January of 1839, hundreds of Africans were captured near Sierra Leon. The Africans were beaten and blindfolded. They were then boarded onto a Portuguese ship, called Tecora. The journey to Havana, Cuba lasted several long months. Many passengers faced viciousness from the captains and crew on the way to the Spanish fort, in Havana, Cuba. Many encountered cruelty,
He often criticized President Van Buren’s illegal attempts to influence the court system and disobey the Constitution. Van Buren denied these accusations. Even though the court systems knew the things John Adams stated were true. In March of 1841, the Supreme Court decided that the Amistad Africans were free people and are allowed to return to Africa. John Quincy Adams wrote a letter to Rodger Sherman Baldwin to tell him what the decision was. In this letter he wrote: “The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of the Amistad has this moment been delivered by Judge Story. The captives are free...Yours in great haste and great joy…” At the end of 1841, the thirty-five survivors (out of over 100 people) of the Amistad sailed for Sierra Leon in Africa. They made a colony that encouraged education. Eventually they became independent from Great Britain. The Amistad case brought together the United States and helped the abolitionist movement. In conclusion, the Amistad case was a long and hard road. Many members of the Mendi tribe were kidnapped by Spaniards and sold into slavery. They faced cruelty, sickness, and death. The road to freedom was a long and hard one. The Mendi tribe never gave in, and never gave up on trying to be free, independent