Amistad Conflict Essay Research Paper The Amistad — страница 3

acts are the highest evidence of any facts stated by him, within the scope of his authority. It is within the scope of his authority, to declare what is property, and what are the rights of the subjects of Spain, within his jurisdiction, in regard to property. Now, in the intercourse of nations, there is no rule better established than this, that full faith is to be given to such acts to the authentic evidence of such acts. The question is not, whether the act is right or wrong; it is whether the act has been done, and whether it is an act within the scope of authority. We are to inquire only whether the power existed, and whether it was rightly or wrongly exercised. (http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/court/supreme/1841.0.decision.2.html),14. However, Justice Story

stipulated that the outcome of this case could not only affect the Africans in question but the whole nation and the foundation of freedom that it was built upon. This case is not only one of deep interest in itself, as affecting the destiny of the unfortunate Africans, but it involves considerations deeply affecting our national character in the eyes of the whole civilized world, as well as questions of power on the part of the government of the United States, which are regarded with anxiety and alarm by a large portion of our citizens. It presents, for the first time, the question, whether the government, which was established for the promotion of justice, which was founded on the great principles of the revolution, as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, can,

consistently with the genius of our institutions, become a party to proceedings for the enslavement of human beings cast upon our shored, and found, in the condition of freemen, within the territorial limits of a free and sovereign state? (http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/court/supreme/1841.01decision.2.html), 34. The Amistad case gave the nation a wake up call. The United States realized that there is an evident conflict on the issue of slavery. This conflict escalated years later into the bloodiest war in American history, the Civil War. The result of the war was the most significant legal development since the first Amistad case. It was, of course, the abolition of slavery. With the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, the U.S. Constitution guaranteed that

“neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”( http://www.nps.gov/malu/frames/amend13.htm),1. Works Cited http://amistad.mysticseaport.org http://www.nps.gove/malu/frames/amend13.htm