15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
[[File:La_Amistad_(ship)_restored.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|<i>La Amistad</i> off Long Island in 1839]]
In August of 1839, the Spanish cargo schooner La Amistad came aground off the coast of Long Island, New York. The United States found itself with an explosive legal and diplomatic case that would pit the American system’s ability to provide justice for all on its shores against the federal government’s ability to enforce its treaty obligations where the jurisdiction of states is involved.
====American officials seized the Amistad after Africans mutinied====
Officers of the United States survey ship Washington found the <i>La Amistad </i> in a state of distress, bearing 53 Africans and the two Spaniards who purchased them in Cuba with the intention of trading them into slavery there. The Africans had mutinied, however, and attempted to have the Spanish owners sail them back to Africa. After the American naval officers helped the owners recover control of the ship and arranged for the guarded detention of the Africans in Connecticut, procuring the Africans’ freedom became the cause celebre of the burgeoning abolitionist and missionary movement.
====Legal battle over the status of the Africans began====
