The First Amistad Trial, 1839 | Records of Rights

Africans now in the custody of the Marshall of said District under color of process issued from this Honorable Court on the 29th day of August 1839, against the Schooner Amistad and the articles of personal property on board of her then lying in the harbor of New London in said district

The First Amistad Trial 1839

This plea was entered in the first Amistad trial. The question of whether the Africans were property was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court in United States v. Libellants of Schooner Amistad in 1841.

National Archives, Records of District Courts of the United States