Click2Flicks - Amistad - Chapter 7 - SET THEM FREE!

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>AMISTAD</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 7 - SET THEM FREE!</p></b></font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">When the case came before the high court Adams, who was nearly deaf, was in rare form. The hearing took place in the <a href="www.aoc.gov/rooms/oldsupr1.htm" target="_blank"><b>Old Supreme Court</b></a>. His actual <a href="www.multied.com/amistad/amistad.html" target="_blank"><b>argument</b></a> lasted 8½ hours, over two separate days. (One of the justices died, causing a delay.)</p> <p>As he spoke for the <i>Amistad</i> captives, the ex-president pointed to the framed Declaration of Independence. With emotion he asked:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Is it possible to speak of this demand (to send the Africans back to Cuba) in language of decency and moderation? ...Has the expunging process of black lines passed upon these two Declarations of Independence in their gilded frames? Has the 4th of July ‘76 become a day of ignominy and reproach?</blockquote></b></i></font> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">No other case, before or since, was precisely on point. Adams had little “legal” precedent. What he <i>did</i> have counted most. His main thrust was the eternal law of nature wherein <i>every</i> person is free. And it was <i>that</i> law - the <i>eternal</i> law - on which Adams staked his claim.</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>...I know of no other law that reaches the case of my clients, but the law of Nature and of Nature’s God on which our fathers placed our own national existence.</blockquote></b></i></font> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Associate Justice Joseph Story told his wife (in a letter) that Adams’ argument was "...extraordinary...for its power, for its bitter sarcasm, and its dealing with topics far beyond the records and points of discussion." In short, Adams gave the Supreme Court no choice. The justices <i>had</i> to do the right thing.</p> <p>It took about one month. <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/dag/3c/3c10000/3c10019r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Justice Story</b></a> wrote the majority opinion. There was one dissent.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="amistad_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="amistad_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="amistad_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> <td align="center" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.awesomestories.com/includes/ad_format.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>