Argument of Roger S. Baldwin, of New Haven, Before the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Case of the United States, App

About the Project

This is a first edition manuscript of Roger Sherman Baldwin’s 1841 arguments before the US Supreme Court in the trial “United States v. Schooner Amistad.” Baldwin, who represented the Africans in the lower court cases, joined John Quincy Adams in representing the Africans in front of the Supreme Court. Baldwin's principal legal goal during the trial was to win the freedom of the Africans, and the arguments he stressed were those he thought most likely to produce success. Often these were narrow, property-law based arguments rather than moralistic, broad-based attacks on slavery itself. Baldwin, however, did argue that the two Spanish men who forced the enslaved people onto The Amistad were the criminals, not the Africans who fought for their freedom, and that the men "deserve the penalty of death for piracy." Baldwin and John Quincy Adams both argued the Africans' cause, but it was Baldwin's arguments that the Court found convincing. Upon learning of the Court's 7 to 1 vote to recognize the status of the Africans as free persons, Baldwin expressed pleasure at "the glorious result of our cause." Help us transcribe this invaluable piece of history showing the highest court in America ruling against the institution of slavery.

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