Former US President John Quincy Adams defended the slaves of the La Amistad ship in front of the US Supreme Court. He argued that the slaves were free individuals who had been wrongfully captured and sold as slaves. Adams successfully advocated for their freedom.
John Quincy Adams
Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams defended Joseph Cinque in the Amistad trial, arguing for the Africans' right to fight against their unlawful enslavement. Adams' defense ultimately played a key role in the Supreme Court's decision to grant the Amistad captives their freedom.
After he was President, Adams successfully represented the slave mutineers in their case before the US Supreme Court.
United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad, 40 US 518 (1841)None. John Quincy Adams was supposed to argue on behalf of the kidnapped Africans who mutinied aboard La Amistad, but was taken ill at the last moment and was unable to attend. Roger Sherman Baldwin (no relation to Justice Henry Baldwin), a prominent attorney who defended the 53 men at their trial, delivered oral arguments in Adams' place.
John Quincy Adams
If you defended British soldiers who were in the Boston Massacre in court, you are John Adams.
In court John Adams defended British Troops because he thought it was fair.
If you defended British soldiers who were in the Boston Massacre in court, you are John Adams.
John Adams
John Adams
United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad, 40 US 518 (1841)In the Amistad case, former President John Quincy Adams was supposed to defend the 53 kidnapped Africans before the US Supreme Court, but fell ill just before oral arguments began. Adams was replaced by Roger Sherman Baldwin, a prominent attorney who had already defended the men in the lower courts. (Roger Baldwin was not related to US Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin, who was the sole dissenter in the case).Attorney General Henry D. Gilpin argued on behalf of the United States.The Supreme Court ruled the men were not slaves, but legally free, and ordered them into the custody of the US President for return to their home country.