Description

A letter from Joshua Leavitt writing as Corresponding Secretary of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, to the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society. In his letter, Leavitt encloses "a communication from our Committee addressed to the Lord Palmerston" regarding the Amistad Case which the Committee "deemed necessary to be laid before the British Government" He outlines the claim by the United States government that the Amistad Africans were legally enslaved in Cuba and a statement by Antonio G. Vega, the Spanish Consul at Boston, declaring that there "was actually no law in Cuba against enslaving Africans recently imported, but that such Africans were sold bona fide & lawfully held as slaves." The Committee feels it necessary "to place a copy of this Declaration of Vegas, certified under the seal of the court, in the hands of the British Government" and encloses document to the care of the British society "that you may present them in such manner as may appear best calculated to further the great [illegible] we have in view." Leavitt writes that "We learn with much interest of the proceedings of your worthy deputation to Spain" and hopes the Amistad Case may have some influence. Leavitt makes sure to mention that Joseph Sturge is a welcome visitor to the United States.

From Collection

Slavery and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Amistad Case

Record Contributed By

Amistad Research Center