Amistad Case: Supreme Court Frees Captive Africans

In 1839, 53 captive Africans led by Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinqué) seized the Spanish slave schooner Amistad after being illegally kidnapped from West Africa. The ship was captured by the U.S. Navy and the case moved through American courts. John Quincy Adams argued for the Africans before the Supreme Court. On March 9, 1841, the Court ruled 7–1 that since the Africans had been illegally enslaved under Spanish law (the Atlantic trade was nominally banned), they had the right to use force to free themselves. They were returned to Africa in 1842. The case became a landmark in abolitionist activism.