Rushing one by one up through the small hatch on the deck the slaves hide in the dark shadows of the night. Sinque slips silently forward coming closer and closer to the crew, then he strikes. With that the slaves went wild attacking their captors viciously and saving only two of the crew, providing they sailed them to Africa. The two crewmembers agreed to bring the slaves to Africa. The slaves keep a close eye but the crewmembers cunningly tricked the slaves and sailed them all the way to America.

Once they arrived at America the slaves were angry, some even thought they might be able to swim from the boat all the way to Africa. They were all rounded up and marched down the street, the pompous and the more caring people watch as the rag-tag and energetic people walk to the jail and are placed in a large cell.

That is when the issue came up, Are these free people? The law at the time was that a free man in America couldn’t be made a slave, only a person that was already a slave could be kept a slave, so were these all free people? The question’s solution resided in whether or not these slaves came from Africa, which would make them free, or if they came from the Caribbean as slaves already, making them slaves that belonged to the two Cubans who claimed they bought them there.

The abolitionists who were trying to help the slaves were worried they wouldn’t be able to help them, that is until they met Roger S. Baldwin who helped them massively through the whole trials. John Quincy Adams also played a major part in all of the trials especially the last.

There were obviously some major constitutional issues with this trial such as “all men are created equal.” What, if slavery is right, does this really mean? Aren’t the Africans people too? Obviously the south doesn’t think so. Senator John C. Calhoun looks at them as an item of the South’s economy, like cotton or grain. He feels if slaves are taken away it will ruin their economy, he pays no attention to the fact that these are actually living people with families and children just like him.

The Africans had a hard time, do to their highly territorial culture and background, when the desk for questioning was brought in to the cell. The table was placed in all different spots as the groups of tribes or little communities yelled out random words such as, MENDI! or such, trying to tell them to get the table out of their specific territory. The table was finally placed over in a corner, which is when the questioning began.

They tried all sorts of methods and languages but just couldn’t speak to them. They then figured they needed to find someone who could speak the language. They took some notes and started speaking the language on the streets until they came across James Covey, who basically was the key to solving the case, as he was a freed slave who could speak English and the tribe’s language.

They conferred with Sinque and the others through James Covey and eventually led them to all sorts of decisions. In the final trial John Quincy Adams makes a long and amazingly decision changing speech and the verdict is decided, the men and women are all let free and are to be brought back to Africa if they wish.

That is the story of the Amistad. The wild and energetically portrayed Africans that yelled and gave more of a hug then a hand shake were all let free. The Africans although in the beginning were portrayed more as wild savages turned out to be able to lean and think on their own, such as Sinque’s message “Let us free” showed that he had learned some English on his own. Eventually at the end Baldwin used Sinque’s culture and gave him the handshake that was more like a hug.

Obviously some of the southern and formal, or aristocratic if you will, white men were upset by all and possibly led their thoughts of civil war into more of an escalation. Of course there was also the kind, quiet and religious “entertainers” as the Africans called them who were utterly happy and went with al the slaves to Africa and started a small mission over in Africa, but over all the whites in the movie were portrayed a very diversified people, there were the pompous and snooty Southerners and you had the religious kind hearted choir members, there were even people such as Baldwin who changed throughout the movie, going from the beginning thinking the slaves as property and at the end realizing them as the people who were, deep inside, no different from him.