THE AMISTAD

TIMELINE

16th to 19th CENTURIES Some 12 million Africans are kidnapped and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World as slaves.
SPRING 1839 Slave traders transport some 500 Africans, many from the Mende region of West Africa, to Cuba; at the slave market in Havana, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes purchase 52 Mende men, women, and children; Ruiz and Montes charter space on the Amistad to transport the Mende to plantations along the Cuban coast.
JUNE 28, 1839 The Amistad departs Havana.
JULY 2, 1839 The Mende take control of the ship and seek to return to Africa.
AUGUST 26, 1839 The Amistad is discovered off the eastern end of Long Island by the U.S. Navy; Lt. Gedney of the Navy Brig Washington takes control of the Amistad.
AUGUST 29, 1839 Legal proceedings commence in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut; Lt. Gedney submits a “libel” for a salvage award based on his capture of the Amistad.
SEPTEMBER 1839 Ruiz and Montes submit libels seeking the return of their property, including the Mende, whom they claim as their slaves.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1839 Justice Smith Thompson begins trial in the criminal case, which continues for three days; he eventually rules that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over an alleged crime on a foreign vessel at sea, and dismisses the criminal charges.
JANUARY 7, 1840 The Amistad civil trial begins; Judge Andrew Judson hears testimony for five days.
JANUARY 13, 1840 Judge Judson holds that the Mende are not slaves.
APRIL 29, 1840 Justice Thompson hears the appeal and affirms the district court’s decree.
FEBRUARY 22, 1841 Oral arguments begin in the United States Supreme Court and continue until March 2, 1841.
MARCH 9, 1841 The Supreme Court holds that the Mende were not slaves but free people; it decrees the Mende free, and orders their release.

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