The movie Amistad centers on a group of Africans who rebelled against the crew of the Spanish slave ship, La Amistad, in hopes of returning to their homeland. They are caught and imprisoned, and a court case ensues to determine what should be done with the "goods." A battle is waged between different factions who all claim ownership of the Africans, but a group of abolitionists see that the deeper issue was not who owned these people, but that they should not be owned at all, and be granted freedom. .
Throughout the film, both the Americans and the Africans are frustrated as they cannot understand each other. Their leader tries to communicate his desire to return home to their lawyer and the abolitionists. He is finally able to do so through the help of a former slave who serves as translator. He tells the gruesome tale of the things him and his fellow captives endured while at sea. The young attorney's argument to the court is that, no one has legitimate claim to these people because, under the law, the only real slaves are those who are born into slavery. Because they were not born into slavery in Cuba, as the Spanish claim, they are no one's property. The hard task was convincing the judge that they slaves were indeed born free in Africa. .
He does so, and the Africans are granted passage back to Africa, and the remaining crew of La Amistad is arrested for illegally obtaining slaves. However, the decision is soon appealed to the United States Supreme Court. This appeal could very well reverse the decision, which would mean that the Africans would have to go on trial for mutiny and murder. The chances of the decision being overturned were high, as seven out of the nine justices were against abolition, and were in fact, slave-owners themselves. .
The young lawyer and the abolitionists turn to former president John Quincy Adams to help them win the trial, as he had been known to support abolition in the past.
