Historical Accuracy
The Supreme Court decision reversed District and Circuit decrees regarding Africans' conveyance back to Africa. They were to be deemed free, but the U.S. government could not take them back to Africa, as they had arrived on American soil as free people.
Many academics, like Columbia University professor Eric Foner, have criticized Amistad for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterizations of the Amistad case as a "turning point" in the American perspective on slavery. Foner wrote that:
| “ | In fact, the Amistad case revolved around the Atlantic slave trade — by 1840 outlawed by international treaty — and had nothing whatsoever to do with slavery as a domestic institution. Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States. | ” |
| “ | Amistad's problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the coming Civil War, which lay twenty years in the future. | ” |
Another anachronism occurs in the film during the trial section concerning the Bible, whose illustrations provide some insights into Christianity to at least one of the imprisoned Africans. The pictures shown were created by Gustave Doré, who was about nine years old at the time of the Amistad events. His Bible was not published for almost three more decades.
The film version of Adams' closing speech before the Supreme Court and the decision of the court bear no resemblance to the much longer historical versions; they are not even fair summaries.
Several inaccuracies occur during the movie's final scenes:
- During the scene depicting the destruction of the Lomboko Fortress by a Royal Navy schooner, the captain of the vessel refers to another officer as "ensign". This rank has never been used by the Royal Navy.
- The ordnance employed in the destruction of the fortress would likely not be sufficient for the purpose.
- The Amistad Africans returned to their homeland in 1842; the Lomboko Fortress was not destroyed until December 1849.
- Since the Lomboko Fortress was not destroyed until December 1849 the letter dictated by Captain Fitzgerald after its destruction to Secretary of State John Forsyth who had already died on October 21, 1841 can also be considered anachronistic.
Read more about this topic: Amistad (film)
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