May 4, 2023 • 32 mins
When the fates of the enslaved captives of the Amistad are put into the hands of the Supreme Court, John Quincy Adams feels it's his duty to represent them. Adams’ son and wife would have preferred he stayed away from the case altogether.
Founding Son is a Curiosity Podcast and is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I'm Bob Crawford. This is founding son John Quincy's America.
It's a summer morning, eighteen thirty nine. The hatch leading
(00:39):
below the deck of the ship lifted. A hard shaft
of light shot through the dank feted ship's hold. Joseph
Sinke winced as he struggled to open his eyes, dazed,
unsure of his surroundings, pain shot through his legs. He
tried to lift them. They wouldn't budge. He was chained
(01:01):
to a long line of men, women and children. Months
had passed since he was in his village in what
is now Sierra Leone. He was surrounded by water, no
idea where he was, how he got here, or where
he was going. When the sun shined, Sinke and the
(01:25):
other captives were brought to the deck for fresh air,
while the cabin boy shoveled out the excrement from the
slave quarters. Sink took the opportunity to familiarize himself with
his surroundings, taking note of everything he saw. Aboard the
ship named Amistad. There was a captain, a cook, and
(01:47):
a handful of crew members. The details are murky, but somehow,
perhaps with the nail he'd found in the ship's waterlogged
boards sink unchained himself and the other captives. When night fell,
they stormed the deck, found a cache of machetes and
seized the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
They killed the captain, and they killed the cook on board.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Mary Elliott is the curator of American Slavery at the
Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And then they forced the two men on board to
help them navigate back to Africa, back to Sierra Leone.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Cinke and the other Africans had no idea the men
who were now their captives were enslavers, the very men
responsible for their abduction. These men didn't steer the ship
back to Africa.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Those two men actually managed to navigate the ship into
the US waters.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
They were spotted off the coast of Long Island. A
lieutenant named Thomas Gedney looked out from his ship to
see a vessel in tatters. The draggled sails and a
colorfully dressed black crew. Quite a curious sight. Get and
his crew boarded the suspicious vessel, and they could tell
right away what had gone down. The human cargo of
(03:12):
the Amistad had risen up and slaughtered their captors. Gedney
took charge of the Amistad and brought the vessel to
nearby Connecticut. Sinke and the dozens of other captives were arrested,
charged with murder and piracy, placed in a prison cell
to await trial. Their story hit the newspapers the next day,
(03:34):
A bloody slave insurrection on the high seas. Overnight it
became a national sensation. Were these African captives heroes struggling
for freedom or murderers? The headline shattered the peace and
quiet John Quincy Adams was hoping to enjoy during a
break at his home, Peacefield. He was preparing for the
(03:56):
next session of Congress, but couldn't get the Amicod case
out of his head. He knew he shouldn't get involved.
He also knew he couldn't help himself. Chapter five, Amistad.
(04:28):
The Case of the Amistad ignited America's debate over slavery
like never before.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
This becomes a cause celeb for the American abolition movement
because you've got roughly fifty African people who struck for
their freedom in a jail cell in New Haven.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Richard Newman is a professor of history at Rochester Institute
of technology. He says there were a lot of people
trying to re enslave the African captives now living in
a jail cell, and Lieutenant Gedney, who commandeered the ship,
was trying to win salvage rights for the human property
he found aboard the Amistad.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
He estimates that the property and the enslaved people themselves
are worth about sixty five thousand dollars at the time,
and so it as to cash in on this, and
abolitionists rushed to the scene to try to aid the
Amistad rebels and to oppose anything that would re enslave them.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Black and white abolitionists seized the moment. They rallied around
the case, raised money, recruited new anti slavery activists, and
while this was becoming a great moment for abolitionists, it
threatened to destroy the coalition keeping President Martin van Buren
in power.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
The Van Buren administration was built on a North South coalition,
and the last thing he wanted was a national case
which could split that coalition between Southerners who viewed this
as a life and death issue and Northerners, who maybe
would have been more inclined to side with the captives.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's John Quincy Adams biographer James Traub. He says Van
Buren's problems didn't end at home.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
The international problem was one that any such administration would
have faced, which is that the captives were seen as
property of Spanish nationals.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
These Spanish nationals were the two enslavers aboard the Amistad
who survived, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes. They appealed to
the local courts and the Van Buren administration to have
their human cargo return to them under America's seventeen to
ninety five treaty with Spain. The Spanish government also demanded
(06:45):
that Van Buren return the captives to Cuba, still a
Spanish colony and the ship's original destination. That's where they
should stand trial for murder.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
This is not about people, it's about things. It would
have required them to return those things to Spain if
Spain requested them.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
John Quincy Adams found it impossible to escape the Amistad
case even in the solitude of his Massachusetts home. Old
friends and newspapers reached out repeatedly. Adams, you have too
great a voice to remain silent, They argued, what is
your opinion on the case. As pressure mounted, Adams kept
(07:26):
his lips sealed.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
In his diary, he wrote, prudence would forbid my giving
an opinion upon it at any time, and if I
ever do, it must be with great consideration and self control.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
While many tried to pull Adams into the case, there
were important people pleading with him to stay out of it.
His surviving son, Charles Francis, was in the middle of
a campaign for the Massachusetts State House at the time.
He begged him not to get in any deeper with
the radical abolitionists.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And when his son says, you know, you don't want
to get involved in this, what he's thinking is this
is a huge cause. Select ye, this could undermine everything
you're working for. But John Quincy Adams thinks the opposite.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
John Quincy's wife Louisa, also begged him not to get
involved in the case, and he listened and stayed out,
watching from Afar. Meanwhile, abolitionist lawyers representing the African captives
tried to get their side of the story, but the
captives didn't speak a lick of Spanish. This was surprising.
(08:32):
The two enslavers aboard the ship claimed the captives came
from Cuba, not Africa. This is actually a big deal.
The American government banned the import of slaves into the
United States in eighteen oh eight.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No ship could come in from the continent of Africa
importing people into the States to sell into the slave trade.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Mary Elliott again, so there.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Was this sense of if someone was brought in from Africa,
we cannot as enslaved.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Had they been brought directly to the United States, that
would have clearly violated the prohibition of the Constitution against
the slave trade.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
James Trupp says the slave traders Montes and Ruiz were
attempting to do something fairly common at this time, essentially
slave laundering.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
What they tried to do, and this is not uncommon
at the time, is they brought them to Cuba so
that they could then claim that they had actually been
in Spanish property all this while they were not actually
recently abducted people, and then they could in effect be
rebranded as long standing slaves from Cuba.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
If lawyers for the captured rebels could prove this, they
could shatter Montes and Ruiz's case. But these lawyers had
never heard any of the languages spoken by Sinke and
the others, and they had no way to speak with
their clients. Then Listeness leader Lewis Tappan came across a
sailor in New Haven who recognized that most of the
(10:12):
captives were in fact known as Mendy, and he spoke
a shared second language of the Mendy captives, a language
called VI. Finally, the captives were able to tell the
story of violence and horror they endured. Just weeks later,
their case kicked off in a district court in Connecticut.
(10:33):
A man named Roger Sherman Baldwin defended them, and he
had an impressive pedigree.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Roger Sherman Baldwin was the grandson of Roger Sherman, the
great Connecticut figure who was one of the signers of
the Constitution. He is the I don't know what great
grandfather of the man who founded the American Civil Liberties Union,
Roger Baldwin. So this is a man with a great lineage,
both before him and beyond him.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
When the case kicked off, Montes and Ruiz, the Spanish government,
and Lieutenant Gedney all claimed some form of ownership of
the captives. Roger Baldwin argued in their defense, explaining that
these African prisoners were not murderers or slaves. They were
free men, women, and children who had been forcibly kidnapped
(11:25):
from their homes. Cinke sat on the floor of the
court and held his hands together clinched in fists to
show how they were manacled. When the testimony was complete,
the judge ruled that the captives were quote natives of
Africa and were born free and ever since have been
(11:47):
and still of right are free and not slaves. The
judge ordered the captives repatriated to Africa. They joined the
abolitionists in a celebration over the ruling, but it didn't
last long. The US District attorney, under direct pressure from
(12:09):
the Van Buren administration, filed an appeal with the U. S.
Supreme Court. Abolitionists representing the captives worried they wouldn't get
the same ruling in the highest court of the land.
The first trial took place in the northern state of Connecticut.
The Supreme Court was made up of almost entirely enslavers.
(12:29):
Panic took cold. They needed someone with gravitas and experience
before the High court. A not so secret weapon. In
eighteen forty, John Quincy Adams received a couple of visitors,
a Boston abolitionist friend and Lewis Tappan, two longtime abolitionists
(12:50):
who had helped found the American anti slavery movement.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Adams knew them because he had become the conduit for
anti slavery petitions. He was the only man in the
Congress who was willing to speak up for the nas
antislavery cause, and so the early anti slavery figures looked
to Adams as their champion.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
They pressed Adams to join the Amistad defense team. Roger
Balwin was a good lawyer, but this was primetime. They
needed a well known champion for the national stage of
the Supreme Court. Adams thought they were crazy. He had
seen too many winters to take on such an important case.
(13:32):
He was in his seventies, his eyesight was fading, he
had arthritis. No, the answer had to be non right.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Initially, he really hesitated, But knowing Adams, you know his character,
the die was cast. He could never resist a situation
which would allow him to champion the cause of lonely
discarded people who were seeking their liberty.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Later, Adams recorded in his diary.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
They urged me so much and represented the case of
those unfortunate men as so critical it being a case
of life and death, that I yielded and told them
that if by the blessing of God, my health and
strength should permit, I would argue the case before the
Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Adams took the case. When we come back, it's the
trial of the century, John Quincy. Adams had no time
(14:59):
to waste getting up to speed with the Amistad case.
It was the fall of eighteen forty and Supreme Court
hearing was scheduled for February of eighteen forty one. The
ex president headed for New Haven, Connecticut to meet with
his new co counsel, Roger Baldwin.
Speaker 7 (15:15):
He exposed to me his views of the case, the
points which had been taken before the district and Circuit courts,
and the motion to dismiss the appeal, which he supposes
the proper course to be taken before the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Shortly after his arrival, Baldwin took Adams to visit the captives.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
The government's claimed that they are property in fact has
not been accepted. It's been reversed by the courts, but
they are being held pending appeal in a kind of
a courtyard area where they wander around. They have rooms.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
James Traubbs says, the captives have been living in this
purgatory for years. When Adams met with them, many started
to learn English, including sin Ka, the group's leader.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Adams was struck, especially by this figure who was known
as Sinkety, who became thea who became a romantic figure
in America. He was one of the most drawn figures
and then photographed in the country. So he must have
been a very impressive person. And Adams was really struck,
and so I think that experience made him think, I
(16:22):
must help these people.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
As the trial date drew near, Adams searched for legal
precedents that would free the captives.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
He then throws himself into this and spends countless hours
with the slaves, hearing their story, but also researching the
case law because there have been several other cases where
slaves had mutinied and got themselves to the United States
(16:55):
and then sought to claim that they were free.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
But many of these cases had ended badly, and Adams
knew it. While he was president, the Supreme Court ruled
on a mutiny aboard the Spanish slave ship the Antelope.
The Chief Justice at the time, John Marshall ruled that
international law barred the liberation of the antelopes human cargo.
(17:21):
Adams started to worry. Just when the stakes couldn't seem higher,
he received a letter from one of the captives, a
Mendi boy named Kalei.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
We wants you to ask the quote, what we have
done wrong? What for Americans keep us in prison? Some
people say Mandy people crazy, Mandy people tults because we
don't talk American language. American people don't talk Mindy language.
American people crazy tults.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Arguments before the Supreme Court started on February twenty second,
George Washington's birthday. Attorney General Henry Gilpin presented the case
for the United States. He argued that the Amistad was
a Spanish vessel marying cargo approved by the country's authorities. Therefore,
the United States was obligated by treaty to restore the
(18:13):
ship and its cargo to the rightful owners, the Spanish government.
That way, the Spanish authorities could try them for piracy
and murder. After Gilbrien's opening arguments, it was time for
John Quincy and his co counsel to make their case.
Baldwin kicked off the defense saying that the whole world
(18:33):
was watching.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
This case is not only one of deep interest in
itself as affecting the destiny of the unfortunate Africans whom
I represent, but it involves considerations deeply affecting our national character.
In the eyes of the whole civilized world. It presents
for the first time the question whether the government which
(18:57):
was established for the promotion of justice, which was founded
on the great principles of the Revolution, as proclaimed in
the Declaration of Independence, can consistently, with the genius of
our institutions, become a party to proceedings for the enslavement
of human beings cast upon our shores and found in
(19:18):
the condition of freemen within the territorial limits of a
free and sovereign state.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Baldwin continued, saying, the captives aboard the ship were kidnapped
and forced into bondage. Why would the US government hand
them back to their.
Speaker 9 (19:35):
Captors, since the master's spirit who guided them had a
single object in view. That object was not piracy or robbery,
but the deliverance of himself and his companions in suffering
from unlawful bondage.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When he finished, Adams thought Baldwin had done a great
job laying out the legal argument for the defense, but
where was the showmanship they needed to break through to
these justices show them the importance of this moment. John
Quincy wrote in his diary that Baldwin had been sound
and eloquent, but exceedingly mild and moderate. Adams had to
(20:19):
bring the heat. When Adams stood before the court, he
was no longer the mild mannered president he once was.
Years of shouting down Southerners in Congress had given him
an edge ferocity.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Fitty part of this article was applicable to the case.
It was in favor of the Africans. They were in
distress and were brought into our waters by their enemies,
by those who sought and who are still seeking to
reduce them from freedom to slavery, his reward for having
spared their lives in a fight.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Adams railed for over four hours building his case.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
If the good offices of the government are to be
rendered to the proprietors of shipping in distress, they are
are due to the Africans only, and the United States
are now bound to restore the ship to the Africans
and replace the Spaniards on board as prisoners.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
The court adjourned for the day, deciding Adams could finish
the next day, but overnight one of the justices died.
The court sat in recess for a week to mourn
Justice Philip Barber. When arguments resumed, Adams launched back into it.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
This was the great age of oratory and the ideas
that you just got up and talked.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Well.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Nobody could talk longer or better than Adams could.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
He argued that the seventeen ninety five Treaty with Spain
did not apply in this.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Case because these people were not chattels merchandise. They had
been illegally stolen.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
But Adams, being Adams, wasn't there to simply make a
legal argument. He was arguing for the soul of the nation.
This was bigger than case law. This was foundational. Adams
pointed to the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
The moment you come to the Declaration of Independence that
every man has a right to life and liberty in
an alienable right, this case is decided. I ask nothing
more in behalf of these unfortunate men than this declaration.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
He was speaking to a court that consisted in almost
entirely of slave owners or slave sympathizers.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Adams called out the names of justices he stood in
front of decades ago. For a moment, it was almost
as if he was conjuring them from the grave.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Marshall, Cushing, Chase, Washington, Johnson, Livingston, Todd. Where are they alas,
where is one of the very judges of this court,
arbiters of life and death before whom I commenced this
anxious argument? Where are they all gone? Gone, gone, gone
(23:19):
from the services watch in their day and generation they
faithfully rendered to their country.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It's mind blowing Richard Numan Again, he says Adams focused
the men sitting before him on a single idea, justice,
And he says, I thought the Supreme Court, like the
American Republic, was dedicated to the principle of justice. And
whether or not it's an enslaved person struggling for justice
or an American citizen struggling for justice, that's the principle
(23:48):
that should define international law, American politics, and American jurisprudence.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
When Adams wrapped, a reporter wrote that quote, the closing
part of the speech was the most touching and affecting
of anything of kind to which I ever listen. He added,
old man eloquent had given us all. Adams, however, had
more to give. When he finished presenting his case, he
(24:18):
tidied up his papers on his desk, packed them into
his satchel, and walked from the old Supreme Court chambers
in one part of the Capitol to his desk on
the house floor in another. The Supreme Court back then
was actually faster in issuing verdicts than it is today.
The Court came back with its ruling just a week
(24:38):
and a half later, but in that short time a
new president had taken office. On March fourth, eighteen forty one,
William Henry Harrison of Ohio was inaugurated as the ninth
President of the United States. Martin Van Buren was out.
Would the court case his administration set in motion be
decided in his favor? Justice Joseph's Story issued the majority
(25:03):
opinion of the court.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
He wrote, they are natives of Africa and were kidnapped
there and were unlawfully transported to Cuba in violation of
the law and treaties of Spain and the most solemn
edicts and declarations of that government.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
The Court ruled seven to one in favor of the captives.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's pretty clear that before John Quincy Adams actually gave
the serration that some members of the court were leaning
in this direction. The ground had already been tilled. But
I'm also sure that John Quincy Adams, as a former president,
a renowned statesman, someone who'd been on the front lines
of the gagrule debates, and then someone who actually gave
this great multi hour speech on the side of justice,
(25:49):
convinced people on the street court that they couldn't go backwards,
They couldn't support the extradition of the Amistad slave rebels
after all that had written written about it. And I'm
pretty sure that that convinces at least a few people
like Joseph's story to support the Amistade Slave Rebels.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Story later described Adam's argument as.
Speaker 10 (26:12):
Extraordinary for its power and its bitter sarcasm, and its
dealings with topics far beyond the record and points of discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Ecstasy rippled through the abolitionist's communities. In the jail, however,
the captives were cut off from the outside world. They
were still nervously awaiting the news. Then an abolitionist arrived
with the newspaper. The Big Court has come to a decision.
They say that you one and all are free. The
(26:43):
captives were skeptical. They had been let down by previous
rulings time and again. But Kala, the group's best reader,
took a look at the paper. It was true. They
were going home. The nation celebrated not only the ruling
but Adams. He had successfully defended the founding ideals of
the nation when it mattered most. His son was a
(27:06):
different story. Charles Francis wrote to his father.
Speaker 11 (27:10):
It may be very interesting to yourself and the public
to be pleading in the Supreme Court, but I must
admit that I do not greatly admire the anxiety at
occasions to those of us who do not regard it
simply as a show.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And his wife, Louisa, was just glad it was over.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
John Wis Adams did the right thing, and he did
it knowing that he was the only one doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Luisa Thomas is a biographer of Louisa Adams, and he
did it against Louisa's wishes, and she did come around,
you know, and his involvement in the Amisade case. Abolitionists
raise funds through the spring and summer to send the
captives back home. In November, they began their journey. Before
(27:57):
their departure, Adams received a gift, a Bible signed by
Sinke in Colin on Behalf of Them All. Friends pushed
Adams to make a public show of the gift, but
that wasn't his style. This was a private moment between
him and the people he had befriended.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
And mister Lewis Tappan has been extremely desirous to having
this done by a public exhibition and ceremony, which I
have repeatedly and inflexibly declined from a clear conviction of
its impropriety and an invincible repugnance to exhibiting myself as
a public rary show.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
John Quincy cherished the gift. If you go to Peacefield,
It's the kind of prized possession I mean. He was
immensely proud of his work on that case, as he
had every right to be. The Amistad case was a
victory for Sinke and his fellow captives. Abolitionists had dealt
the slaveocracy a decisive blow, with Adams landing the knockout punch.
(28:56):
It was a defining moment for America's founding son. It
elevated him from a failed ex president to a nash
No hero. On the next Founding Son.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
To not cry. I hope to meet you all in heaven.
Speaker 12 (29:32):
This was a time when even Boston was having, you know,
condolence parades for the fallen Andrew Jackson. But John Quincy
Adams was true to himself.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
Jackson was a hero, a murder, an adulter, and a
profoundly pious Presbyterian who in his last days of his
life but lied and slandered me before the world.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Founding Son is a curiosity podcast brought to you by
iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. For help with this
this episode, we want to thank Mary Elliott, creator of
American Slavery at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American
History and Culture. James Traub, author of John Quincy Adams
(30:18):
Militant Spirit, Richard Newman, Professor of history at Rochester Institute
of Technology. Luisa Thomas, staff writer at The New Yorker
and author of Louisa, The Extraordinary Life of Missus Adams.
Our lead producer, story editor and sound designer is James Morrison.
Our senior producer is Jessica Metzker. Our production manager is
(30:41):
Daisy Church. Fact checking by Adam Bisno. This episode was
mixed and mastered by George Hicks. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott,
Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Jason English. Original music by
me Bob Crawford. Additional scoring is by Blue Dot Sessions.
(31:02):
John Quincy Adams is voiced by Patrick Warburton, Andrew Jackson
is voiced by Nick Offerman. Luisa Adams is voiced by
Gray Delile. Additional voices in this episode provided by Ken Burns, Scott,
Avian Owen, p Osborne, Ben Sawyer, and Mike Coscarelli. Show
(31:22):
art designed by Darren Shock. Casting support provided by Breakdown Services.
Special thanks to John Higgins, Julia Chris Gal and the
Massachusetts Historical Society. If you are a fan of the podcast,
please give it a five star rating in your podcast app.
You can also check out other Curiosity podcasts to learn
(31:45):
about history, pop culture, true crime, and more. This podcast
was recorded under a SAG after a collective bargaining agreement.
I'm your host, Bob Crawford. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
School of Humans
I'm Bob Crawford. This is founding son John Quincy's America.
It's a summer morning, eighteen thirty nine. The hatch leading
(00:39):
below the deck of the ship lifted. A hard shaft
of light shot through the dank feted ship's hold. Joseph
Sinke winced as he struggled to open his eyes, dazed,
unsure of his surroundings, pain shot through his legs. He
tried to lift them. They wouldn't budge. He was chained
(01:01):
to a long line of men, women and children. Months
had passed since he was in his village in what
is now Sierra Leone. He was surrounded by water, no
idea where he was, how he got here, or where
he was going. When the sun shined, Sinke and the
(01:25):
other captives were brought to the deck for fresh air,
while the cabin boy shoveled out the excrement from the
slave quarters. Sink took the opportunity to familiarize himself with
his surroundings, taking note of everything he saw. Aboard the
ship named Amistad. There was a captain, a cook, and
(01:47):
a handful of crew members. The details are murky, but somehow,
perhaps with the nail he'd found in the ship's waterlogged
boards sink unchained himself and the other captives. When night fell,
they stormed the deck, found a cache of machetes and
seized the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
They killed the captain, and they killed the cook on board.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Mary Elliott is the curator of American Slavery at the
Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And then they forced the two men on board to
help them navigate back to Africa, back to Sierra Leone.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Cinke and the other Africans had no idea the men
who were now their captives were enslavers, the very men
responsible for their abduction. These men didn't steer the ship
back to Africa.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Those two men actually managed to navigate the ship into
the US waters.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
They were spotted off the coast of Long Island. A
lieutenant named Thomas Gedney looked out from his ship to
see a vessel in tatters. The draggled sails and a
colorfully dressed black crew. Quite a curious sight. Get and
his crew boarded the suspicious vessel, and they could tell
right away what had gone down. The human cargo of
(03:12):
the Amistad had risen up and slaughtered their captors. Gedney
took charge of the Amistad and brought the vessel to
nearby Connecticut. Sinke and the dozens of other captives were arrested,
charged with murder and piracy, placed in a prison cell
to await trial. Their story hit the newspapers the next day,
(03:34):
A bloody slave insurrection on the high seas. Overnight it
became a national sensation. Were these African captives heroes struggling
for freedom or murderers? The headline shattered the peace and
quiet John Quincy Adams was hoping to enjoy during a
break at his home, Peacefield. He was preparing for the
(03:56):
next session of Congress, but couldn't get the Amicod case
out of his head. He knew he shouldn't get involved.
He also knew he couldn't help himself. Chapter five, Amistad.
(04:28):
The Case of the Amistad ignited America's debate over slavery
like never before.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
This becomes a cause celeb for the American abolition movement
because you've got roughly fifty African people who struck for
their freedom in a jail cell in New Haven.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Richard Newman is a professor of history at Rochester Institute
of technology. He says there were a lot of people
trying to re enslave the African captives now living in
a jail cell, and Lieutenant Gedney, who commandeered the ship,
was trying to win salvage rights for the human property
he found aboard the Amistad.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
He estimates that the property and the enslaved people themselves
are worth about sixty five thousand dollars at the time,
and so it as to cash in on this, and
abolitionists rushed to the scene to try to aid the
Amistad rebels and to oppose anything that would re enslave them.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Black and white abolitionists seized the moment. They rallied around
the case, raised money, recruited new anti slavery activists, and
while this was becoming a great moment for abolitionists, it
threatened to destroy the coalition keeping President Martin van Buren
in power.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
The Van Buren administration was built on a North South coalition,
and the last thing he wanted was a national case
which could split that coalition between Southerners who viewed this
as a life and death issue and Northerners, who maybe
would have been more inclined to side with the captives.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's John Quincy Adams biographer James Traub. He says Van
Buren's problems didn't end at home.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
The international problem was one that any such administration would
have faced, which is that the captives were seen as
property of Spanish nationals.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
These Spanish nationals were the two enslavers aboard the Amistad
who survived, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes. They appealed to
the local courts and the Van Buren administration to have
their human cargo return to them under America's seventeen to
ninety five treaty with Spain. The Spanish government also demanded
(06:45):
that Van Buren return the captives to Cuba, still a
Spanish colony and the ship's original destination. That's where they
should stand trial for murder.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
This is not about people, it's about things. It would
have required them to return those things to Spain if
Spain requested them.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
John Quincy Adams found it impossible to escape the Amistad
case even in the solitude of his Massachusetts home. Old
friends and newspapers reached out repeatedly. Adams, you have too
great a voice to remain silent, They argued, what is
your opinion on the case. As pressure mounted, Adams kept
(07:26):
his lips sealed.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
In his diary, he wrote, prudence would forbid my giving
an opinion upon it at any time, and if I
ever do, it must be with great consideration and self control.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
While many tried to pull Adams into the case, there
were important people pleading with him to stay out of it.
His surviving son, Charles Francis, was in the middle of
a campaign for the Massachusetts State House at the time.
He begged him not to get in any deeper with
the radical abolitionists.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And when his son says, you know, you don't want
to get involved in this, what he's thinking is this
is a huge cause. Select ye, this could undermine everything
you're working for. But John Quincy Adams thinks the opposite.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
John Quincy's wife Louisa, also begged him not to get
involved in the case, and he listened and stayed out,
watching from Afar. Meanwhile, abolitionist lawyers representing the African captives
tried to get their side of the story, but the
captives didn't speak a lick of Spanish. This was surprising.
(08:32):
The two enslavers aboard the ship claimed the captives came
from Cuba, not Africa. This is actually a big deal.
The American government banned the import of slaves into the
United States in eighteen oh eight.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No ship could come in from the continent of Africa
importing people into the States to sell into the slave trade.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Mary Elliott again, so there.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Was this sense of if someone was brought in from Africa,
we cannot as enslaved.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Had they been brought directly to the United States, that
would have clearly violated the prohibition of the Constitution against
the slave trade.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
James Trupp says the slave traders Montes and Ruiz were
attempting to do something fairly common at this time, essentially
slave laundering.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
What they tried to do, and this is not uncommon
at the time, is they brought them to Cuba so
that they could then claim that they had actually been
in Spanish property all this while they were not actually
recently abducted people, and then they could in effect be
rebranded as long standing slaves from Cuba.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
If lawyers for the captured rebels could prove this, they
could shatter Montes and Ruiz's case. But these lawyers had
never heard any of the languages spoken by Sinke and
the others, and they had no way to speak with
their clients. Then Listeness leader Lewis Tappan came across a
sailor in New Haven who recognized that most of the
(10:12):
captives were in fact known as Mendy, and he spoke
a shared second language of the Mendy captives, a language
called VI. Finally, the captives were able to tell the
story of violence and horror they endured. Just weeks later,
their case kicked off in a district court in Connecticut.
(10:33):
A man named Roger Sherman Baldwin defended them, and he
had an impressive pedigree.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Roger Sherman Baldwin was the grandson of Roger Sherman, the
great Connecticut figure who was one of the signers of
the Constitution. He is the I don't know what great
grandfather of the man who founded the American Civil Liberties Union,
Roger Baldwin. So this is a man with a great lineage,
both before him and beyond him.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
When the case kicked off, Montes and Ruiz, the Spanish government,
and Lieutenant Gedney all claimed some form of ownership of
the captives. Roger Baldwin argued in their defense, explaining that
these African prisoners were not murderers or slaves. They were
free men, women, and children who had been forcibly kidnapped
(11:25):
from their homes. Cinke sat on the floor of the
court and held his hands together clinched in fists to
show how they were manacled. When the testimony was complete,
the judge ruled that the captives were quote natives of
Africa and were born free and ever since have been
(11:47):
and still of right are free and not slaves. The
judge ordered the captives repatriated to Africa. They joined the
abolitionists in a celebration over the ruling, but it didn't
last long. The US District attorney, under direct pressure from
(12:09):
the Van Buren administration, filed an appeal with the U. S.
Supreme Court. Abolitionists representing the captives worried they wouldn't get
the same ruling in the highest court of the land.
The first trial took place in the northern state of Connecticut.
The Supreme Court was made up of almost entirely enslavers.
(12:29):
Panic took cold. They needed someone with gravitas and experience
before the High court. A not so secret weapon. In
eighteen forty, John Quincy Adams received a couple of visitors,
a Boston abolitionist friend and Lewis Tappan, two longtime abolitionists
(12:50):
who had helped found the American anti slavery movement.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Adams knew them because he had become the conduit for
anti slavery petitions. He was the only man in the
Congress who was willing to speak up for the nas
antislavery cause, and so the early anti slavery figures looked
to Adams as their champion.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
They pressed Adams to join the Amistad defense team. Roger
Balwin was a good lawyer, but this was primetime. They
needed a well known champion for the national stage of
the Supreme Court. Adams thought they were crazy. He had
seen too many winters to take on such an important case.
(13:32):
He was in his seventies, his eyesight was fading, he
had arthritis. No, the answer had to be non right.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Initially, he really hesitated, But knowing Adams, you know his character,
the die was cast. He could never resist a situation
which would allow him to champion the cause of lonely
discarded people who were seeking their liberty.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Later, Adams recorded in his diary.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
They urged me so much and represented the case of
those unfortunate men as so critical it being a case
of life and death, that I yielded and told them
that if by the blessing of God, my health and
strength should permit, I would argue the case before the
Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Adams took the case. When we come back, it's the
trial of the century, John Quincy. Adams had no time
(14:59):
to waste getting up to speed with the Amistad case.
It was the fall of eighteen forty and Supreme Court
hearing was scheduled for February of eighteen forty one. The
ex president headed for New Haven, Connecticut to meet with
his new co counsel, Roger Baldwin.
Speaker 7 (15:15):
He exposed to me his views of the case, the
points which had been taken before the district and Circuit courts,
and the motion to dismiss the appeal, which he supposes
the proper course to be taken before the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Shortly after his arrival, Baldwin took Adams to visit the captives.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
The government's claimed that they are property in fact has
not been accepted. It's been reversed by the courts, but
they are being held pending appeal in a kind of
a courtyard area where they wander around. They have rooms.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
James Traubbs says, the captives have been living in this
purgatory for years. When Adams met with them, many started
to learn English, including sin Ka, the group's leader.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Adams was struck, especially by this figure who was known
as Sinkety, who became thea who became a romantic figure
in America. He was one of the most drawn figures
and then photographed in the country. So he must have
been a very impressive person. And Adams was really struck,
and so I think that experience made him think, I
(16:22):
must help these people.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
As the trial date drew near, Adams searched for legal
precedents that would free the captives.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
He then throws himself into this and spends countless hours
with the slaves, hearing their story, but also researching the
case law because there have been several other cases where
slaves had mutinied and got themselves to the United States
(16:55):
and then sought to claim that they were free.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
But many of these cases had ended badly, and Adams
knew it. While he was president, the Supreme Court ruled
on a mutiny aboard the Spanish slave ship the Antelope.
The Chief Justice at the time, John Marshall ruled that
international law barred the liberation of the antelopes human cargo.
(17:21):
Adams started to worry. Just when the stakes couldn't seem higher,
he received a letter from one of the captives, a
Mendi boy named Kalei.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
We wants you to ask the quote, what we have
done wrong? What for Americans keep us in prison? Some
people say Mandy people crazy, Mandy people tults because we
don't talk American language. American people don't talk Mindy language.
American people crazy tults.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Arguments before the Supreme Court started on February twenty second,
George Washington's birthday. Attorney General Henry Gilpin presented the case
for the United States. He argued that the Amistad was
a Spanish vessel marying cargo approved by the country's authorities. Therefore,
the United States was obligated by treaty to restore the
(18:13):
ship and its cargo to the rightful owners, the Spanish government.
That way, the Spanish authorities could try them for piracy
and murder. After Gilbrien's opening arguments, it was time for
John Quincy and his co counsel to make their case.
Baldwin kicked off the defense saying that the whole world
(18:33):
was watching.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
This case is not only one of deep interest in
itself as affecting the destiny of the unfortunate Africans whom
I represent, but it involves considerations deeply affecting our national character.
In the eyes of the whole civilized world. It presents
for the first time the question whether the government which
(18:57):
was established for the promotion of justice, which was founded
on the great principles of the Revolution, as proclaimed in
the Declaration of Independence, can consistently, with the genius of
our institutions, become a party to proceedings for the enslavement
of human beings cast upon our shores and found in
(19:18):
the condition of freemen within the territorial limits of a
free and sovereign state.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Baldwin continued, saying, the captives aboard the ship were kidnapped
and forced into bondage. Why would the US government hand
them back to their.
Speaker 9 (19:35):
Captors, since the master's spirit who guided them had a
single object in view. That object was not piracy or robbery,
but the deliverance of himself and his companions in suffering
from unlawful bondage.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When he finished, Adams thought Baldwin had done a great
job laying out the legal argument for the defense, but
where was the showmanship they needed to break through to
these justices show them the importance of this moment. John
Quincy wrote in his diary that Baldwin had been sound
and eloquent, but exceedingly mild and moderate. Adams had to
(20:19):
bring the heat. When Adams stood before the court, he
was no longer the mild mannered president he once was.
Years of shouting down Southerners in Congress had given him
an edge ferocity.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Fitty part of this article was applicable to the case.
It was in favor of the Africans. They were in
distress and were brought into our waters by their enemies,
by those who sought and who are still seeking to
reduce them from freedom to slavery, his reward for having
spared their lives in a fight.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Adams railed for over four hours building his case.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
If the good offices of the government are to be
rendered to the proprietors of shipping in distress, they are
are due to the Africans only, and the United States
are now bound to restore the ship to the Africans
and replace the Spaniards on board as prisoners.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
The court adjourned for the day, deciding Adams could finish
the next day, but overnight one of the justices died.
The court sat in recess for a week to mourn
Justice Philip Barber. When arguments resumed, Adams launched back into it.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
This was the great age of oratory and the ideas
that you just got up and talked.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Well.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Nobody could talk longer or better than Adams could.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
He argued that the seventeen ninety five Treaty with Spain
did not apply in this.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Case because these people were not chattels merchandise. They had
been illegally stolen.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
But Adams, being Adams, wasn't there to simply make a
legal argument. He was arguing for the soul of the nation.
This was bigger than case law. This was foundational. Adams
pointed to the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
The moment you come to the Declaration of Independence that
every man has a right to life and liberty in
an alienable right, this case is decided. I ask nothing
more in behalf of these unfortunate men than this declaration.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
He was speaking to a court that consisted in almost
entirely of slave owners or slave sympathizers.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Adams called out the names of justices he stood in
front of decades ago. For a moment, it was almost
as if he was conjuring them from the grave.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Marshall, Cushing, Chase, Washington, Johnson, Livingston, Todd. Where are they alas,
where is one of the very judges of this court,
arbiters of life and death before whom I commenced this
anxious argument? Where are they all gone? Gone, gone, gone
(23:19):
from the services watch in their day and generation they
faithfully rendered to their country.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It's mind blowing Richard Numan Again, he says Adams focused
the men sitting before him on a single idea, justice,
And he says, I thought the Supreme Court, like the
American Republic, was dedicated to the principle of justice. And
whether or not it's an enslaved person struggling for justice
or an American citizen struggling for justice, that's the principle
(23:48):
that should define international law, American politics, and American jurisprudence.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
When Adams wrapped, a reporter wrote that quote, the closing
part of the speech was the most touching and affecting
of anything of kind to which I ever listen. He added,
old man eloquent had given us all. Adams, however, had
more to give. When he finished presenting his case, he
(24:18):
tidied up his papers on his desk, packed them into
his satchel, and walked from the old Supreme Court chambers
in one part of the Capitol to his desk on
the house floor in another. The Supreme Court back then
was actually faster in issuing verdicts than it is today.
The Court came back with its ruling just a week
(24:38):
and a half later, but in that short time a
new president had taken office. On March fourth, eighteen forty one,
William Henry Harrison of Ohio was inaugurated as the ninth
President of the United States. Martin Van Buren was out.
Would the court case his administration set in motion be
decided in his favor? Justice Joseph's Story issued the majority
(25:03):
opinion of the court.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
He wrote, they are natives of Africa and were kidnapped
there and were unlawfully transported to Cuba in violation of
the law and treaties of Spain and the most solemn
edicts and declarations of that government.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
The Court ruled seven to one in favor of the captives.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's pretty clear that before John Quincy Adams actually gave
the serration that some members of the court were leaning
in this direction. The ground had already been tilled. But
I'm also sure that John Quincy Adams, as a former president,
a renowned statesman, someone who'd been on the front lines
of the gagrule debates, and then someone who actually gave
this great multi hour speech on the side of justice,
(25:49):
convinced people on the street court that they couldn't go backwards,
They couldn't support the extradition of the Amistad slave rebels
after all that had written written about it. And I'm
pretty sure that that convinces at least a few people
like Joseph's story to support the Amistade Slave Rebels.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Story later described Adam's argument as.
Speaker 10 (26:12):
Extraordinary for its power and its bitter sarcasm, and its
dealings with topics far beyond the record and points of discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Ecstasy rippled through the abolitionist's communities. In the jail, however,
the captives were cut off from the outside world. They
were still nervously awaiting the news. Then an abolitionist arrived
with the newspaper. The Big Court has come to a decision.
They say that you one and all are free. The
(26:43):
captives were skeptical. They had been let down by previous
rulings time and again. But Kala, the group's best reader,
took a look at the paper. It was true. They
were going home. The nation celebrated not only the ruling
but Adams. He had successfully defended the founding ideals of
the nation when it mattered most. His son was a
(27:06):
different story. Charles Francis wrote to his father.
Speaker 11 (27:10):
It may be very interesting to yourself and the public
to be pleading in the Supreme Court, but I must
admit that I do not greatly admire the anxiety at
occasions to those of us who do not regard it
simply as a show.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And his wife, Louisa, was just glad it was over.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
John Wis Adams did the right thing, and he did
it knowing that he was the only one doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Luisa Thomas is a biographer of Louisa Adams, and he
did it against Louisa's wishes, and she did come around,
you know, and his involvement in the Amisade case. Abolitionists
raise funds through the spring and summer to send the
captives back home. In November, they began their journey. Before
(27:57):
their departure, Adams received a gift, a Bible signed by
Sinke in Colin on Behalf of Them All. Friends pushed
Adams to make a public show of the gift, but
that wasn't his style. This was a private moment between
him and the people he had befriended.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
And mister Lewis Tappan has been extremely desirous to having
this done by a public exhibition and ceremony, which I
have repeatedly and inflexibly declined from a clear conviction of
its impropriety and an invincible repugnance to exhibiting myself as
a public rary show.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
John Quincy cherished the gift. If you go to Peacefield,
It's the kind of prized possession I mean. He was
immensely proud of his work on that case, as he
had every right to be. The Amistad case was a
victory for Sinke and his fellow captives. Abolitionists had dealt
the slaveocracy a decisive blow, with Adams landing the knockout punch.
(28:56):
It was a defining moment for America's founding son. It
elevated him from a failed ex president to a nash
No hero. On the next Founding Son.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
To not cry. I hope to meet you all in heaven.
Speaker 12 (29:32):
This was a time when even Boston was having, you know,
condolence parades for the fallen Andrew Jackson. But John Quincy
Adams was true to himself.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
Jackson was a hero, a murder, an adulter, and a
profoundly pious Presbyterian who in his last days of his
life but lied and slandered me before the world.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Founding Son is a curiosity podcast brought to you by
iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. For help with this
this episode, we want to thank Mary Elliott, creator of
American Slavery at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American
History and Culture. James Traub, author of John Quincy Adams
(30:18):
Militant Spirit, Richard Newman, Professor of history at Rochester Institute
of Technology. Luisa Thomas, staff writer at The New Yorker
and author of Louisa, The Extraordinary Life of Missus Adams.
Our lead producer, story editor and sound designer is James Morrison.
Our senior producer is Jessica Metzker. Our production manager is
(30:41):
Daisy Church. Fact checking by Adam Bisno. This episode was
mixed and mastered by George Hicks. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott,
Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Jason English. Original music by
me Bob Crawford. Additional scoring is by Blue Dot Sessions.
(31:02):
John Quincy Adams is voiced by Patrick Warburton, Andrew Jackson
is voiced by Nick Offerman. Luisa Adams is voiced by
Gray Delile. Additional voices in this episode provided by Ken Burns, Scott,
Avian Owen, p Osborne, Ben Sawyer, and Mike Coscarelli. Show
(31:22):
art designed by Darren Shock. Casting support provided by Breakdown Services.
Special thanks to John Higgins, Julia Chris Gal and the
Massachusetts Historical Society. If you are a fan of the podcast,
please give it a five star rating in your podcast app.
You can also check out other Curiosity podcasts to learn
(31:45):
about history, pop culture, true crime, and more. This podcast
was recorded under a SAG after a collective bargaining agreement.
I'm your host, Bob Crawford. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
School of Humans
Host
Bob Crawford
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com