Mar 31, 2016 - Sale 2408

Sale 2408 - Lot 39

Price Realized: $ 1,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of the United States in the Case of the United States, Appellants vs Cinque and Others, Africans. 135 pages, lacking the original printed wrappers; some light foxing throughout; loose modern paper wrapper. New York: Benedict, 1841

Additional Details

first edition of adams' argument on behalf of the amistad captives. Together with Roger Baldwin, the legal team defending Cinque and the other captives, laid down a brilliant argument: that as none of the so-called slaves could speak a word of Spanish, or English, but they did speak an African language, it was clear that they were indeed Africans taken after the 1807 ban, and therefore free.