Speaker 1: I'm Bob Crawford. This is founding son John Quincy's America.
Speaker 1: It's a summer morning, eighteen thirty nine. The hatch leading
Speaker 1: below the deck of the ship lifted. A hard shaft
Speaker 1: of light shot through the dank feted ship's hold. Joseph
Speaker 1: Sinke winced as he struggled to open his eyes, dazed,
Speaker 1: unsure of his surroundings, pain shot through his legs. He
Speaker 1: tried to lift them. They wouldn't budge. He was chained
Speaker 1: to a long line of men, women and children. Months
Speaker 1: had passed since he was in his village in what
Speaker 1: is now Sierra Leone. He was surrounded by water, no
Speaker 1: idea where he was, how he got here, or where
Speaker 1: he was going. When the sun shined, Sinke and the
Speaker 1: other captives were brought to the deck for fresh air,
Speaker 1: while the cabin boy shoveled out the excrement from the
Speaker 1: slave quarters. Sink took the opportunity to familiarize himself with
Speaker 1: his surroundings, taking note of everything he saw. Aboard the
Speaker 1: ship named Amistad. There was a captain, a cook, and
Speaker 1: a handful of crew members. The details are murky, but somehow,
Speaker 1: perhaps with the nail he'd found in the ship's waterlogged
Speaker 1: boards sink unchained himself and the other captives. When night fell,
Speaker 1: they stormed the deck, found a cache of machetes and
Speaker 1: seized the moment.
Speaker 2: They killed the captain, and they killed the cook on board.
Speaker 1: Mary Elliott is the curator of American Slavery at the
Speaker 1: Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Speaker 2: And then they forced the two men on board to
Speaker 2: help them navigate back to Africa, back to Sierra Leone.
Speaker 1: Cinke and the other Africans had no idea the men
Speaker 1: who were now their captives were enslavers, the very men
Speaker 1: responsible for their abduction. These men didn't steer the ship
Speaker 1: back to Africa.
Speaker 2: Those two men actually managed to navigate the ship into
Speaker 2: the US waters.
Speaker 1: They were spotted off the coast of Long Island. A
Speaker 1: lieutenant named Thomas Gedney looked out from his ship to
Speaker 1: see a vessel in tatters. The draggled sails and a
Speaker 1: colorfully dressed black crew. Quite a curious sight. Get and
Speaker 1: his crew boarded the suspicious vessel, and they could tell
Speaker 1: right away what had gone down. The human cargo of
Speaker 1: the Amistad had risen up and slaughtered their captors. Gedney
Speaker 1: took charge of the Amistad and brought the vessel to
Speaker 1: nearby Connecticut. Sinke and the dozens of other captives were arrested,
Speaker 1: charged with murder and piracy, placed in a prison cell
Speaker 1: to await trial. Their story hit the newspapers the next day,
Speaker 1: A bloody slave insurrection on the high seas. Overnight it
Speaker 1: became a national sensation. Were these African captives heroes struggling
Speaker 1: for freedom or murderers? The headline shattered the peace and
Speaker 1: quiet John Quincy Adams was hoping to enjoy during a
Speaker 1: break at his home, Peacefield. He was preparing for the
Speaker 1: next session of Congress, but couldn't get the Amicod case
Speaker 1: out of his head. He knew he shouldn't get involved.
Speaker 1: He also knew he couldn't help himself. Chapter five, Amistad.
Speaker 1: The Case of the Amistad ignited America's debate over slavery
Speaker 1: like never before.
Speaker 3: This becomes a cause celeb for the American abolition movement
Speaker 3: because you've got roughly fifty African people who struck for
Speaker 3: their freedom in a jail cell in New Haven.
Speaker 1: Richard Newman is a professor of history at Rochester Institute
Speaker 1: of technology. He says there were a lot of people
Speaker 1: trying to re enslave the African captives now living in
Speaker 1: a jail cell, and Lieutenant Gedney, who commandeered the ship,
Speaker 1: was trying to win salvage rights for the human property
Speaker 1: he found aboard the Amistad.
Speaker 3: He estimates that the property and the enslaved people themselves
Speaker 3: are worth about sixty five thousand dollars at the time,
Speaker 3: and so it as to cash in on this, and
Speaker 3: abolitionists rushed to the scene to try to aid the
Speaker 3: Amistad rebels and to oppose anything that would re enslave them.
Speaker 1: Black and white abolitionists seized the moment. They rallied around
Speaker 1: the case, raised money, recruited new anti slavery activists, and
Speaker 1: while this was becoming a great moment for abolitionists, it
Speaker 1: threatened to destroy the coalition keeping President Martin van Buren
Speaker 1: in power.
Speaker 4: The Van Buren administration was built on a North South coalition,
Speaker 4: and the last thing he wanted was a national case
Speaker 4: which could split that coalition between Southerners who viewed this
Speaker 4: as a life and death issue and Northerners, who maybe
Speaker 4: would have been more inclined to side with the captives.
Speaker 1: That's John Quincy Adams biographer James Traub. He says Van
Speaker 1: Buren's problems didn't end at home.
Speaker 4: The international problem was one that any such administration would
Speaker 4: have faced, which is that the captives were seen as
Speaker 4: property of Spanish nationals.
Speaker 1: These Spanish nationals were the two enslavers aboard the Amistad
Speaker 1: who survived, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes. They appealed to
Speaker 1: the local courts and the Van Buren administration to have
Speaker 1: their human cargo return to them under America's seventeen to
Speaker 1: ninety five treaty with Spain. The Spanish government also demanded
Speaker 1: that Van Buren return the captives to Cuba, still a
Speaker 1: Spanish colony and the ship's original destination. That's where they
Speaker 1: should stand trial for murder.
Speaker 4: This is not about people, it's about things. It would
Speaker 4: have required them to return those things to Spain if
Speaker 4: Spain requested them.
Speaker 1: John Quincy Adams found it impossible to escape the Amistad
Speaker 1: case even in the solitude of his Massachusetts home. Old
Speaker 1: friends and newspapers reached out repeatedly. Adams, you have too
Speaker 1: great a voice to remain silent, They argued, what is
Speaker 1: your opinion on the case. As pressure mounted, Adams kept
Speaker 1: his lips sealed.
Speaker 5: In his diary, he wrote, prudence would forbid my giving
Speaker 5: an opinion upon it at any time, and if I
Speaker 5: ever do, it must be with great consideration and self control.
Speaker 1: While many tried to pull Adams into the case, there
Speaker 1: were important people pleading with him to stay out of it.
Speaker 1: His surviving son, Charles Francis, was in the middle of
Speaker 1: a campaign for the Massachusetts State House at the time.
Speaker 1: He begged him not to get in any deeper with
Speaker 1: the radical abolitionists.
Speaker 3: And when his son says, you know, you don't want
Speaker 3: to get involved in this, what he's thinking is this
Speaker 3: is a huge cause. Select ye, this could undermine everything
Speaker 3: you're working for. But John Quincy Adams thinks the opposite.
Speaker 1: John Quincy's wife Louisa, also begged him not to get
Speaker 1: involved in the case, and he listened and stayed out,
Speaker 1: watching from Afar. Meanwhile, abolitionist lawyers representing the African captives
Speaker 1: tried to get their side of the story, but the
Speaker 1: captives didn't speak a lick of Spanish. This was surprising.
Speaker 1: The two enslavers aboard the ship claimed the captives came
Speaker 1: from Cuba, not Africa. This is actually a big deal.
Speaker 1: The American government banned the import of slaves into the
Speaker 1: United States in eighteen oh eight.
Speaker 2: No ship could come in from the continent of Africa
Speaker 2: importing people into the States to sell into the slave trade.
Speaker 1: Mary Elliott again, so there.
Speaker 2: Was this sense of if someone was brought in from Africa,
Speaker 2: we cannot as enslaved.
Speaker 4: Had they been brought directly to the United States, that
Speaker 4: would have clearly violated the prohibition of the Constitution against
Speaker 4: the slave trade.
Speaker 1: James Trupp says the slave traders Montes and Ruiz were
Speaker 1: attempting to do something fairly common at this time, essentially
Speaker 1: slave laundering.
Speaker 4: What they tried to do, and this is not uncommon
Speaker 4: at the time, is they brought them to Cuba so
Speaker 4: that they could then claim that they had actually been
Speaker 4: in Spanish property all this while they were not actually
Speaker 4: recently abducted people, and then they could in effect be
Speaker 4: rebranded as long standing slaves from Cuba.
Speaker 1: If lawyers for the captured rebels could prove this, they
Speaker 1: could shatter Montes and Ruiz's case. But these lawyers had
Speaker 1: never heard any of the languages spoken by Sinke and
Speaker 1: the others, and they had no way to speak with
Speaker 1: their clients. Then Listeness leader Lewis Tappan came across a
Speaker 1: sailor in New Haven who recognized that most of the
Speaker 1: captives were in fact known as Mendy, and he spoke
Speaker 1: a shared second language of the Mendy captives, a language
Speaker 1: called VI. Finally, the captives were able to tell the
Speaker 1: story of violence and horror they endured. Just weeks later,
Speaker 1: their case kicked off in a district court in Connecticut.
Speaker 1: A man named Roger Sherman Baldwin defended them, and he
Speaker 1: had an impressive pedigree.
Speaker 4: Roger Sherman Baldwin was the grandson of Roger Sherman, the
Speaker 4: great Connecticut figure who was one of the signers of
Speaker 4: the Constitution. He is the I don't know what great
Speaker 4: grandfather of the man who founded the American Civil Liberties Union,
Speaker 4: Roger Baldwin. So this is a man with a great lineage,
Speaker 4: both before him and beyond him.
Speaker 1: When the case kicked off, Montes and Ruiz, the Spanish government,
Speaker 1: and Lieutenant Gedney all claimed some form of ownership of
Speaker 1: the captives. Roger Baldwin argued in their defense, explaining that
Speaker 1: these African prisoners were not murderers or slaves. They were
Speaker 1: free men, women, and children who had been forcibly kidnapped
Speaker 1: from their homes. Cinke sat on the floor of the
Speaker 1: court and held his hands together clinched in fists to
Speaker 1: show how they were manacled. When the testimony was complete,
Speaker 1: the judge ruled that the captives were quote natives of
Speaker 1: Africa and were born free and ever since have been
Speaker 1: and still of right are free and not slaves. The
Speaker 1: judge ordered the captives repatriated to Africa. They joined the
Speaker 1: abolitionists in a celebration over the ruling, but it didn't
Speaker 1: last long. The US District attorney, under direct pressure from
Speaker 1: the Van Buren administration, filed an appeal with the U. S.
Speaker 1: Supreme Court. Abolitionists representing the captives worried they wouldn't get
Speaker 1: the same ruling in the highest court of the land.
Speaker 1: The first trial took place in the northern state of Connecticut.
Speaker 1: The Supreme Court was made up of almost entirely enslavers.
Speaker 1: Panic took cold. They needed someone with gravitas and experience
Speaker 1: before the High court. A not so secret weapon. In
Speaker 1: eighteen forty, John Quincy Adams received a couple of visitors,
Speaker 1: a Boston abolitionist friend and Lewis Tappan, two longtime abolitionists
Speaker 1: who had helped found the American anti slavery movement.
Speaker 4: Adams knew them because he had become the conduit for
Speaker 4: anti slavery petitions. He was the only man in the
Speaker 4: Congress who was willing to speak up for the nas
Speaker 4: antislavery cause, and so the early anti slavery figures looked
Speaker 4: to Adams as their champion.
Speaker 1: They pressed Adams to join the Amistad defense team. Roger
Speaker 1: Balwin was a good lawyer, but this was primetime. They
Speaker 1: needed a well known champion for the national stage of
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. Adams thought they were crazy. He had
Speaker 1: seen too many winters to take on such an important case.
Speaker 1: He was in his seventies, his eyesight was fading, he
Speaker 1: had arthritis. No, the answer had to be non right.
Speaker 4: Initially, he really hesitated, But knowing Adams, you know his character,
Speaker 4: the die was cast. He could never resist a situation
Speaker 4: which would allow him to champion the cause of lonely
Speaker 4: discarded people who were seeking their liberty.
Speaker 1: Later, Adams recorded in his diary.
Speaker 6: They urged me so much and represented the case of
Speaker 6: those unfortunate men as so critical it being a case
Speaker 6: of life and death, that I yielded and told them
Speaker 6: that if by the blessing of God, my health and
Speaker 6: strength should permit, I would argue the case before the
Speaker 6: Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: Adams took the case. When we come back, it's the
Speaker 1: trial of the century, John Quincy. Adams had no time
Speaker 1: to waste getting up to speed with the Amistad case.
Speaker 1: It was the fall of eighteen forty and Supreme Court
Speaker 1: hearing was scheduled for February of eighteen forty one. The
Speaker 1: ex president headed for New Haven, Connecticut to meet with
Speaker 1: his new co counsel, Roger Baldwin.
Speaker 7: He exposed to me his views of the case, the
Speaker 7: points which had been taken before the district and Circuit courts,
Speaker 7: and the motion to dismiss the appeal, which he supposes
Speaker 7: the proper course to be taken before the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: Shortly after his arrival, Baldwin took Adams to visit the captives.
Speaker 4: The government's claimed that they are property in fact has
Speaker 4: not been accepted. It's been reversed by the courts, but
Speaker 4: they are being held pending appeal in a kind of
Speaker 4: a courtyard area where they wander around. They have rooms.
Speaker 1: James Traubbs says, the captives have been living in this
Speaker 1: purgatory for years. When Adams met with them, many started
Speaker 1: to learn English, including sin Ka, the group's leader.
Speaker 4: Adams was struck, especially by this figure who was known
Speaker 4: as Sinkety, who became thea who became a romantic figure
Speaker 4: in America. He was one of the most drawn figures
Speaker 4: and then photographed in the country. So he must have
Speaker 4: been a very impressive person. And Adams was really struck,
Speaker 4: and so I think that experience made him think, I
Speaker 4: must help these people.
Speaker 1: As the trial date drew near, Adams searched for legal
Speaker 1: precedents that would free the captives.
Speaker 4: He then throws himself into this and spends countless hours
Speaker 4: with the slaves, hearing their story, but also researching the
Speaker 4: case law because there have been several other cases where
Speaker 4: slaves had mutinied and got themselves to the United States
Speaker 4: and then sought to claim that they were free.
Speaker 1: But many of these cases had ended badly, and Adams
Speaker 1: knew it. While he was president, the Supreme Court ruled
Speaker 1: on a mutiny aboard the Spanish slave ship the Antelope.
Speaker 1: The Chief Justice at the time, John Marshall ruled that
Speaker 1: international law barred the liberation of the antelopes human cargo.
Speaker 1: Adams started to worry. Just when the stakes couldn't seem higher,
Speaker 1: he received a letter from one of the captives, a
Speaker 1: Mendi boy named Kalei.
Speaker 8: We wants you to ask the quote, what we have
Speaker 8: done wrong? What for Americans keep us in prison? Some
Speaker 8: people say Mandy people crazy, Mandy people tults because we
Speaker 8: don't talk American language. American people don't talk Mindy language.
Speaker 8: American people crazy tults.
Speaker 1: Arguments before the Supreme Court started on February twenty second,
Speaker 1: George Washington's birthday. Attorney General Henry Gilpin presented the case
Speaker 1: for the United States. He argued that the Amistad was
Speaker 1: a Spanish vessel marying cargo approved by the country's authorities. Therefore,
Speaker 1: the United States was obligated by treaty to restore the
Speaker 1: ship and its cargo to the rightful owners, the Spanish government.
Speaker 1: That way, the Spanish authorities could try them for piracy
Speaker 1: and murder. After Gilbrien's opening arguments, it was time for
Speaker 1: John Quincy and his co counsel to make their case.
Speaker 1: Baldwin kicked off the defense saying that the whole world
Speaker 1: was watching.
Speaker 9: This case is not only one of deep interest in
Speaker 9: itself as affecting the destiny of the unfortunate Africans whom
Speaker 9: I represent, but it involves considerations deeply affecting our national character.
Speaker 9: In the eyes of the whole civilized world. It presents
Speaker 9: for the first time the question whether the government which
Speaker 9: was established for the promotion of justice, which was founded
Speaker 9: on the great principles of the Revolution, as proclaimed in
Speaker 9: the Declaration of Independence, can consistently, with the genius of
Speaker 9: our institutions, become a party to proceedings for the enslavement
Speaker 9: of human beings cast upon our shores and found in
Speaker 9: the condition of freemen within the territorial limits of a
Speaker 9: free and sovereign state.
Speaker 1: Baldwin continued, saying, the captives aboard the ship were kidnapped
Speaker 1: and forced into bondage. Why would the US government hand
Speaker 1: them back to their.
Speaker 9: Captors, since the master's spirit who guided them had a
Speaker 9: single object in view. That object was not piracy or robbery,
Speaker 9: but the deliverance of himself and his companions in suffering
Speaker 9: from unlawful bondage.
Speaker 1: When he finished, Adams thought Baldwin had done a great
Speaker 1: job laying out the legal argument for the defense, but
Speaker 1: where was the showmanship they needed to break through to
Speaker 1: these justices show them the importance of this moment. John
Speaker 1: Quincy wrote in his diary that Baldwin had been sound
Speaker 1: and eloquent, but exceedingly mild and moderate. Adams had to
Speaker 1: bring the heat. When Adams stood before the court, he
Speaker 1: was no longer the mild mannered president he once was.
Speaker 1: Years of shouting down Southerners in Congress had given him
Speaker 1: an edge ferocity.
Speaker 6: Fitty part of this article was applicable to the case.
Speaker 6: It was in favor of the Africans. They were in
Speaker 6: distress and were brought into our waters by their enemies,
Speaker 6: by those who sought and who are still seeking to
Speaker 6: reduce them from freedom to slavery, his reward for having
Speaker 6: spared their lives in a fight.
Speaker 1: Adams railed for over four hours building his case.
Speaker 6: If the good offices of the government are to be
Speaker 6: rendered to the proprietors of shipping in distress, they are
Speaker 6: are due to the Africans only, and the United States
Speaker 6: are now bound to restore the ship to the Africans
Speaker 6: and replace the Spaniards on board as prisoners.
Speaker 1: The court adjourned for the day, deciding Adams could finish
Speaker 1: the next day, but overnight one of the justices died.
Speaker 1: The court sat in recess for a week to mourn
Speaker 1: Justice Philip Barber. When arguments resumed, Adams launched back into it.
Speaker 4: This was the great age of oratory and the ideas
Speaker 4: that you just got up and talked.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 4: Nobody could talk longer or better than Adams could.
Speaker 1: He argued that the seventeen ninety five Treaty with Spain
Speaker 1: did not apply in this.
Speaker 4: Case because these people were not chattels merchandise. They had
Speaker 4: been illegally stolen.
Speaker 1: But Adams, being Adams, wasn't there to simply make a
Speaker 1: legal argument. He was arguing for the soul of the nation.
Speaker 1: This was bigger than case law. This was foundational. Adams
Speaker 1: pointed to the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 6: The moment you come to the Declaration of Independence that
Speaker 6: every man has a right to life and liberty in
Speaker 6: an alienable right, this case is decided. I ask nothing
Speaker 6: more in behalf of these unfortunate men than this declaration.
Speaker 4: He was speaking to a court that consisted in almost
Speaker 4: entirely of slave owners or slave sympathizers.
Speaker 1: Adams called out the names of justices he stood in
Speaker 1: front of decades ago. For a moment, it was almost
Speaker 1: as if he was conjuring them from the grave.
Speaker 6: Marshall, Cushing, Chase, Washington, Johnson, Livingston, Todd. Where are they alas,
Speaker 6: where is one of the very judges of this court,
Speaker 6: arbiters of life and death before whom I commenced this
Speaker 6: anxious argument? Where are they all gone? Gone, gone, gone
Speaker 6: from the services watch in their day and generation they
Speaker 6: faithfully rendered to their country.
Speaker 3: It's mind blowing Richard Numan Again, he says Adams focused
Speaker 3: the men sitting before him on a single idea, justice,
Speaker 3: And he says, I thought the Supreme Court, like the
Speaker 3: American Republic, was dedicated to the principle of justice. And
Speaker 3: whether or not it's an enslaved person struggling for justice
Speaker 3: or an American citizen struggling for justice, that's the principle
Speaker 3: that should define international law, American politics, and American jurisprudence.
Speaker 1: When Adams wrapped, a reporter wrote that quote, the closing
Speaker 1: part of the speech was the most touching and affecting
Speaker 1: of anything of kind to which I ever listen. He added,
Speaker 1: old man eloquent had given us all. Adams, however, had
Speaker 1: more to give. When he finished presenting his case, he
Speaker 1: tidied up his papers on his desk, packed them into
Speaker 1: his satchel, and walked from the old Supreme Court chambers
Speaker 1: in one part of the Capitol to his desk on
Speaker 1: the house floor in another. The Supreme Court back then
Speaker 1: was actually faster in issuing verdicts than it is today.
Speaker 1: The Court came back with its ruling just a week
Speaker 1: and a half later, but in that short time a
Speaker 1: new president had taken office. On March fourth, eighteen forty one,
Speaker 1: William Henry Harrison of Ohio was inaugurated as the ninth
Speaker 1: President of the United States. Martin Van Buren was out.
Speaker 1: Would the court case his administration set in motion be
Speaker 1: decided in his favor? Justice Joseph's Story issued the majority
Speaker 1: opinion of the court.
Speaker 10: He wrote, they are natives of Africa and were kidnapped
Speaker 10: there and were unlawfully transported to Cuba in violation of
Speaker 10: the law and treaties of Spain and the most solemn
Speaker 10: edicts and declarations of that government.
Speaker 1: The Court ruled seven to one in favor of the captives.
Speaker 3: It's pretty clear that before John Quincy Adams actually gave
Speaker 3: the serration that some members of the court were leaning
Speaker 3: in this direction. The ground had already been tilled. But
Speaker 3: I'm also sure that John Quincy Adams, as a former president,
Speaker 3: a renowned statesman, someone who'd been on the front lines
Speaker 3: of the gagrule debates, and then someone who actually gave
Speaker 3: this great multi hour speech on the side of justice,
Speaker 3: convinced people on the street court that they couldn't go backwards,
Speaker 3: They couldn't support the extradition of the Amistad slave rebels
Speaker 3: after all that had written written about it. And I'm
Speaker 3: pretty sure that that convinces at least a few people
Speaker 3: like Joseph's story to support the Amistade Slave Rebels.
Speaker 1: Story later described Adam's argument as.
Speaker 10: Extraordinary for its power and its bitter sarcasm, and its
Speaker 10: dealings with topics far beyond the record and points of discussion.
Speaker 1: Ecstasy rippled through the abolitionist's communities. In the jail, however,
Speaker 1: the captives were cut off from the outside world. They
Speaker 1: were still nervously awaiting the news. Then an abolitionist arrived
Speaker 1: with the newspaper. The Big Court has come to a decision.
Speaker 1: They say that you one and all are free. The
Speaker 1: captives were skeptical. They had been let down by previous
Speaker 1: rulings time and again. But Kala, the group's best reader,
Speaker 1: took a look at the paper. It was true. They
Speaker 1: were going home. The nation celebrated not only the ruling
Speaker 1: but Adams. He had successfully defended the founding ideals of
Speaker 1: the nation when it mattered most. His son was a
Speaker 1: different story. Charles Francis wrote to his father.
Speaker 11: It may be very interesting to yourself and the public
Speaker 11: to be pleading in the Supreme Court, but I must
Speaker 11: admit that I do not greatly admire the anxiety at
Speaker 11: occasions to those of us who do not regard it
Speaker 11: simply as a show.
Speaker 1: And his wife, Louisa, was just glad it was over.
Speaker 3: John Wis Adams did the right thing, and he did
Speaker 3: it knowing that he was the only one doing the
Speaker 3: right thing.
Speaker 1: Luisa Thomas is a biographer of Louisa Adams, and he
Speaker 1: did it against Louisa's wishes, and she did come around,
Speaker 1: you know, and his involvement in the Amisade case. Abolitionists
Speaker 1: raise funds through the spring and summer to send the
Speaker 1: captives back home. In November, they began their journey. Before
Speaker 1: their departure, Adams received a gift, a Bible signed by
Speaker 1: Sinke in Colin on Behalf of Them All. Friends pushed
Speaker 1: Adams to make a public show of the gift, but
Speaker 1: that wasn't his style. This was a private moment between
Speaker 1: him and the people he had befriended.
Speaker 6: And mister Lewis Tappan has been extremely desirous to having
Speaker 6: this done by a public exhibition and ceremony, which I
Speaker 6: have repeatedly and inflexibly declined from a clear conviction of
Speaker 6: its impropriety and an invincible repugnance to exhibiting myself as
Speaker 6: a public rary show.
Speaker 1: John Quincy cherished the gift. If you go to Peacefield,
Speaker 1: It's the kind of prized possession I mean. He was
Speaker 1: immensely proud of his work on that case, as he
Speaker 1: had every right to be. The Amistad case was a
Speaker 1: victory for Sinke and his fellow captives. Abolitionists had dealt
Speaker 1: the slaveocracy a decisive blow, with Adams landing the knockout punch.
Speaker 1: It was a defining moment for America's founding son. It
Speaker 1: elevated him from a failed ex president to a nash
Speaker 1: No hero. On the next Founding Son.
Speaker 7: To not cry. I hope to meet you all in heaven.
Speaker 12: This was a time when even Boston was having, you know,
Speaker 12: condolence parades for the fallen Andrew Jackson. But John Quincy
Speaker 12: Adams was true to himself.
Speaker 6: Jackson was a hero, a murder, an adulter, and a
Speaker 6: profoundly pious Presbyterian who in his last days of his
Speaker 6: life but lied and slandered me before the world.
Speaker 1: Founding Son is a curiosity podcast brought to you by
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. For help with this
Speaker 1: this episode, we want to thank Mary Elliott, creator of
Speaker 1: American Slavery at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American
Speaker 1: History and Culture. James Traub, author of John Quincy Adams
Speaker 1: Militant Spirit, Richard Newman, Professor of history at Rochester Institute
Speaker 1: of Technology. Luisa Thomas, staff writer at The New Yorker
Speaker 1: and author of Louisa, The Extraordinary Life of Missus Adams.
Speaker 1: Our lead producer, story editor and sound designer is James Morrison.
Speaker 1: Our senior producer is Jessica Metzker. Our production manager is
Speaker 1: Daisy Church. Fact checking by Adam Bisno. This episode was
Speaker 1: mixed and mastered by George Hicks. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott,
Speaker 1: Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Jason English. Original music by
Speaker 1: me Bob Crawford. Additional scoring is by Blue Dot Sessions.
Speaker 1: John Quincy Adams is voiced by Patrick Warburton, Andrew Jackson
Speaker 1: is voiced by Nick Offerman. Luisa Adams is voiced by
Speaker 1: Gray Delile. Additional voices in this episode provided by Ken Burns, Scott,
Speaker 1: Avian Owen, p Osborne, Ben Sawyer, and Mike Coscarelli. Show
Speaker 1: art designed by Darren Shock. Casting support provided by Breakdown Services.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to John Higgins, Julia Chris Gal and the
Speaker 1: Massachusetts Historical Society. If you are a fan of the podcast,
Speaker 1: please give it a five star rating in your podcast app.
Speaker 1: You can also check out other Curiosity podcasts to learn
Speaker 1: about history, pop culture, true crime, and more. This podcast
Speaker 1: was recorded under a SAG after a collective bargaining agreement.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Bob Crawford. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4: School of Humans