Amistad

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Amistad

slave ship

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July 1, 2026

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The Amistad mutiny occurred on July 2, 1839, when enslaved Africans revolted on the Spanish slave ship Amistad near Cuba. Led by Joseph Cinqu\u00e9, the captives, who had been illegally abducted from Africa, killed the captain and cook but spared a navigator to sail them home. The ship was intercepted by the U.S. Navy off Long Island, and the Africans were imprisoned in Connecticut.12

A court case ensued, with abolitionists advocating for the Africans and the U.S. government initially siding with the Spanish claim that the captives were property. However, the court ruled that the Africans were victims of kidnapping and had the right to escape. This decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841, leading to the surviving 35 Africans returning to Sierra Leone in 1842. The case significantly impacted the American abolition movement and led to the formation of the American Missionary Association.12

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John Quincy Adams
Second career in Congress of John Quincy Adams
…arrested aboard the slave ship Amistad—enslaved people who had mutinied and escaped from their Spanish owners off the coast of Cuba and had wound up bringing the ship into United States waters near Long Island, New York. Adams defended them as freemen before the Supreme Court in 1841 against efforts…
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…arrested aboard the slave ship Amistad—enslaved people who had mutinied and escaped from their Spanish owners off the coast of Cuba and had wound up bringing the ship into United States waters near Long Island, New York. Adams defended them as freemen before the Supreme Court in 1841 against efforts…
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Connecticut
Political, economic, and social maturation
…slaves involved in the 1839 Amistad mutiny gripped Connecticut and the country; a bronze memorial to Joseph Cinque, the leader of the slave revolt, now stands in front of New Haven’s city hall. The constitution of 1818 granted suffrage to men with certain property qualifications, but women’s suffrage came only…
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…slaves involved in the 1839 Amistad mutiny gripped Connecticut and the country; a bronze memorial to Joseph Cinque, the leader of the slave revolt, now stands in front of New Haven’s city hall. The constitution of 1818 granted suffrage to men with certain property qualifications, but women’s suffrage came only…
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Amistad mutiny
…place on the slave ship Amistad near the coast of Cuba and had important political and legal repercussions in the American abolition movement. The mutineers were captured and tried in the United States, and a surprising victory for the country’s antislavery forces resulted in 1841 when the U.S. Supreme Court…
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…place on the slave ship Amistad near the coast of Cuba and had important political and legal repercussions in the American abolition movement. The mutineers were captured and tried in the United States, and a surprising victory for the country’s antislavery forces resulted in 1841 when the U.S. Supreme Court…
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Joseph Cinqué
…led a revolt on the Amistad coastal slave ship in 1839. He was later taken into custody in the United States but was freed by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The revolt came to be known as the Amistad mutiny.
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…led a revolt on the Amistad coastal slave ship in 1839. He was later taken into custody in the United States but was freed by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The revolt came to be known as the Amistad mutiny.
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transatlantic slave trade
The Middle Passage
…on the Spanish slave ship Amistad, killing the captain and two members of the crew. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ordered the Africans to be returned to their homes.
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…on the Spanish slave ship Amistad, killing the captain and two members of the crew. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ordered the Africans to be returned to their homes.
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