United States V. The Amistad - After The Trial

After The Trial

The Africans greeted the news of the Supreme Court's decision with joy. Abolitionist supporters took the survivors – 36 men and boys and three girls – to Farmington, a village considered "Grand Central Station" on the Underground Railroad. Then a child in Farmington, the author Charles Ledyard Norton wrote later about the arrival of the Africans:

Barracks were erected and here the former captives made their home. Cinqué was a born ruler. Ably seconded by his lieutenant, Grabeau, he maintained a very creditable degree of discipline among his followers. They were, for the most part, free to roam about, except for regular school hours, and townsfolk soon ceased to fear them. Anxious mamas at first trembled and kept their children behind bolted doors, but before long it was no uncommon sight to see the big grown-up blacks playing with little white children in village dooryards.

The Amistad Committee continued to instruct the Africans in English and Christianity and collected donations to pay for their return home. Along with several missionaries, the surviving 36 Africans sailed back to Africa early in 1842. A mission was erected in Mendiland. Numerous members of the Amistad Committee later founded the American Missionary Association, an evangelical organization which continued to support the Mendi mission. Made up of black and white ministers from mostly Presbyterian and Congregational denominations, it was active in arguing for abolitionism and for education of Blacks. After the American Civil War, it founded numerous schools and colleges for freedmen in the Southern U.S.

In the following years, the Spanish government continued to press the US for compensation. Several lawmakers from southern states introduced resolutions into the United States Congress to pay. These efforts were supported by presidents James K. Polk and James Buchanan, but they all failed to gain passage.

Joseph Cinqué returned to Africa. One rumor held that he later went to Jamaica. Another account holds that he returned to the mission and re-embraced Christianity in his final years. Other rumors alleged that Cinqué became involved in slavery. Recent historical research suggests that the allegations of Cinqué's involvement are false.

The United States dealt with another ship rebellion similar to the Amistad case in the Creole case of 1841.