The Story of Amistad Trivia Quiz

Answer: 25,000

In 1817, a treaty was made between Britain and Spain banning the sale of slaves in any Spanish colonies. Over a two year period, 25,000 slaves were taken to Cuba to be sold. The slaves that weren't sold in Cuba were put back on the Amistad.

Answer: Cinque

In June of 1839, Cinque was a slave who was put on the Amistad along with fifty-two other slaves, including four children. One month after being put on the Amistad, Cinque led a mutiny in which the Captain and the cook of the ship were killed. Two crewmen escaped in a rowboat. Two other crewmen named Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes were kept alive to steer the ship back to Africa.

Answer: False

Cinque and the other slaves tried to make it to Africa, but at night Ruiz and Montes steered the ship toward New York. The ship zig-zagged through the water for weeks until finally making it to New York.

Answer: U.S. Navy

The Navy ship, USS Washington, caught the Amistad in the New York harbor. Judge Andrew T. Judson, a district court judge appointed by President Van Buren, held a judicial hearing on the USS Washington against the slaves responsible for the deaths of two men. Judge Judson had them sent to New Haven, Connecticut where Cinque was separated from the group for fear that he would cause a rebellion.

Answer: True

The criminal case was dismissed by Judge Thompson in 1839. Judge Smith Thompson was a US Supreme Court judge. He had Cinque and the others held over until it could be decided if they were someone's property or not.

Answer: Yes

A professor of language and a clergyman named Josiah Gibbs got an interpreter, James Covey, to interpret for the slaves because they spoke Mende, the language of Sierre Leone. The slaves told the story of how they were kept in a factory until bought by Ruiz and Montes to be put on the Amistad.

Answer: John Q. Adams

John Q. Adams was seventy-four years old and member of Congress when he agreed to help Roger Baldwin defend the African slaves. "By the blessing of God, I will argue this case before the Supreme Court," Mr. Adams told Roger Baldwin. After a year of legal battles, the slaves were deemed free to stay in America or return to Africa.

Answer: True

Due to problems that plagued the freed Africans in America, the surviving thirty-five men, women and children, including Cinque, went with missionaries to Sierre Leone. Most of them eventually left the mission to start out on their own. One African female, Sarah, returned to America to attend Oberlin College.

Answer: President Lincoln

Every President that came to office after the Amistad hearings tried to get Spain compensated for the trouble caused by the Amistad incident. The House of Representatives wouldn't allow compensation even though every president tried to get it for Spain. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, he stopped the compensation efforts altogether.

Answer: The Friendship

The Amistad case kept the United States and Spain at odds over diplomatic relations for a generation while it helped American missionaries open up the way to Africa. Steven Spielberg made a movie about the Amistad in 1997.