Question

Read the excerpt below and then answer the following question.

It is also a most important consideration in the present case, which ought not to be lost sight of, that, supposing these African negroes not to be slaves, but kidnapped, and free negroes, the treaty with Spain cannot be obligatory upon them: and the United States are bound to respect their rights as much as those of Spanish subjects.
U.S. Supreme Court opinion, 1841

This opinion most likely refers to which of the following events from the abolition movement?
A. The Emancipation Proclamation
B. John Brown's rebellion
C. The Civil War
***D. The Amistad rebellion

Answer 1

the amistad rebellion

Answer 2

The correct option is:

D. The Amistad rebellion.

This opinion was part of the Court's decision, delivered by Associate Justice Joseph Story, on the United States v. Schooner Amistad, a Supreme Court case which emerged from the rebellion of Africans on board of the Spanish schooner La Amistad. This extensively publicized court case made it to the United States federal district court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in 1841, and helped the abolitionist anti-slavery movement.