Raquel

Carlton
Block C
Ms.Hunt
December
11, 2015

The Amistad
In 1853 fifty-three illegally purchased African slaves were being
transported from Cuba on a ship called The Amistad. These slaves
managed to take control of the vessel by killing some of the crew and
demanding the remainder members to sail back to Africa. The
remaining crewmembers sneakily attempted to sail back to Cuba, but
instead an American brig off of the coast of Long Island intercepted
them. The slaves were immediately imprisoned, but they were given
the opportunity to have a trial and the hearing in a Hartford court ruled
the Africans not guilty. The case then appealed to the Supreme Court
where John Quincy Adams spoke on behalf of the Africans challenging
the Americans to consider a person as a person before being
considering their race. John Quincy Adamss speech revealed that
American people are hypocritical because they claim freedom but
believe in slavery and because they are easily influenced by both

internal and external opinions but they profess being strong and
independent people.
John Quincy Adams speech unveils the American peoples habit
to proclaim liberty and equality, but contradict those principles by
enslaving Africans. This is best seen when Adams alludes to the
Declaration of Independence, which granted independence to the
American colonies on July 4,1776. The Deceleration of Independence?
What of its conceits? All men...created equal, inalienable rights, life,
liberty, and so on and so forth? What on earth are we to do with this?
Basically, Adams is trying to get the American people to remember the
principles behind the Declaration of Independence and apply that to
the African Americans. Also, he is showing how they contradict the
document by enslaving others because slavery does not give the
slaves the unalienable rights that they deserve. Therefore, the
American people are being hypocrites because they put a lot of
emphasis on the importance of the Declaration of Independence, but
undermine the fundamental principles in order to keep slavery.
John Quincy Adams s exposes how Americans can be hypocrites
because they take pride in freedom and equality but believe that that
right should only be bestowed on white people. Also the Americans
believe that they are independent and tenacious, but they easily given
in to the pressure of foreign and domestic demands and speculations.

Adams speech exposes the mentality of Americans and how they

believe in certain principles