Amistad, which means friendship in spanish, was a ship that brought slaves from the Caribbean to North America. A group of slaves were taken from Africa which was illegal, it would have only been legal if they had been born in Cuba or America. There was a law that stated no one could be taken from Africa and sold into slavery. The Africans were traded in by their own people for guns. While the slaves were on the ship they were able to get out of their chains and find swords. They killed all of the crew except for the captain. They tried to make the captain sail back to Africa and the captain pretended like he was but kept heading to America.
The slave ship was caught on the coast and the Africans were going to be tried in court for mutiny and murder and if they were found guilty they would be executed. The defendant showed the judge a book he found on the ship of where the slaves were taken from, which meant that the Africans were innocent and the judge justified the killing of the sailors. The Africans weren't born as slaves , therefore they weren't legally slaves. The Africans should’ve been able to go home right then and there. However, the judge was replaced by a younger judge. The court was surprised when even the new judge found the slaves innocent. The Africans should have been able to go home no question. The new judge even ordered to have the slave traders arrested.
Somehow the case was moved to the Supreme Court to be tried a third time there, 7 out of the 9 Supreme Court judges were slave owners. To try to help, the defendants got former president John Quincy Adams to make a speech on the case and the whole topic of slavery itself. When it finally came time for the third and final verdict, the Africans were again found innocent and this time they were really set free. Then there was an epilogue at the end which explained that the Africans were sent and the fort that they were sold in was destroyed and the would-be slaves were rescued. Also, it notes that one of the slave’s wife and child were missing and are believed to have been sold into slavery.
I thought the movie was great and that it is a tearjerker. I wish that there were more facts in it though. I was left hanging a little bit at the end. I found it interesting how the case had to be tried three times to come to a final decision. If I could change anything it would be more detailed but with the same amount of graphicness. I think that being graphic is better for the people who can handle it because it doesn't sugar coat the story, it tells the story like it was.
I found it interesting that they had a mende translator. When I think of the 1800’s I always thought it was impossible to understand each other. I didn't think people could actually be bilingual. This case must have been a blind step for America because the north didn't know if this was going to start a civil war, which it didn't. However it certainly had a hand in it.