Teaching With Documents:The Amistad Case
John Quincy Adams' request for papers relating to the
lower court trials of the Amistad Africans,
January 23, 1841
After the Federal District Court ruled in favor of the Africans, the U.S. District Attorney filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the trial before the Supreme Court, the Africans were represented by John Quincy Adams, a former U.S. President and descendant of American revolutionaries. Preparing for his appearance before the Court, Adams requested papers from the lower courts one month before the proceedings opened. 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.
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National Archives
and Records Administration,
Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, RG 267
ARC Identifier: 301671
- Libel of Thomas R. Gedney,
Lieutenant, U.S. Brig Washington
August 29, 1839 - Answer of the Proctors for the
Amistad Africans
January 7, 1840 - John Quincy Adams' request for papers relating to the lower
court trials of the Amistad Africans
January 23, 1841
ARC Identifier: 301671 - Opinion of the Supreme
Court in United States v. The Amistad
March 9, 1841
ARC Identifier: 301672 - Statement of the Supreme
Court to Circuit Court
March 9, 1841
