Amistad Library - Government Papers

The Library holds various kinds of government papers. Please note that court records are kept separately.

Presidential Papers - Annual messages

Martin Van Buren, 1839. (Van Buren did not refer to the Amistad case, but he did report on the stationing of a navy patrol on the African coast to police against illegal slave trading.)

Over the next few decades, a succession of U.S. Presidents tried (unsuccessfully) to persuade Congress to pay off Spanish claims arising from the Amistad decision, including:

James Polk in 1847;

Franklin Pierce in 1853;

James Buchanan, repeatedly, in 1857, 1858, and 1859. (The last two excerpts include calls by Buchanan for the U.S. to buy Cuba from Spain.)

Diplomatic Papers

Spanish-U.S. Diplomatic Correspondence # General/Background

Spanish Foreign Minister to U.S. Ambassador, February 22, 1838 (bemoaning American and British abolitionist intrigue).

U.S. Ambassador John Eaton responds, March 10, 1838 (commenting on U.S.-Spanish relations, slavery, the slave trade, and abolition).

Secretary of State John Forsyth to U.S. Charge d'Affairs in Madrid Aaron Vail, July 15, 1840 (commenting on the imperial status of Cuba, vis-`a-vis the U.S. and Great Britain, and on the slave trade).

Aaron Vail to U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster, November 30, 1841 (reiterating Spanish anxieties re British abolitionism and imperial designs on Cuba).

Washington Irving to Daniel Webster, March 10, 1843 (reports on passing along to Spanish authorities intelligence of possible British conspiracy to foster slave insurrection in Cuba).

Washington Irving to John C. Calhoun, April 23, 1844 (reporting on Cuba's continued illegal slave importations, despite a recent slave insurrection).

Spanish-U.S. Diplomatic Correspondence # Amistad

Spanish Ambassador Calderon to U.S Secretary of State John Forsyth, September 6, 1839 (calling on the U.S. to return the Amistad Africans to Cuba).

Forsyth to Calderon, September 16, 1839 (responding to the Spanish demand).

Forsyth to Calderon, September 23, 1839 (requesting any documentation on the case the Spanish can provide).

Calderon to Forsyth, September 29, 1839 (responding to U.S. request for documentation).

Argaiz to Forsyth, October 3, 1839 (renewing call for return of schooner and Africans).

Forsyth to Argaiz, October 24, 1839 (responding to Spanish protest against arrest of Ruiz and Montes).

Argaiz to Forsyth, November 5, 1839 (again calling on the U.S. to release Ruiz and Montes).

Argaiz to Forsyth, November 26, 1839 (again remonstrating U.S. on the Amistad case).

Argaiz to Forsyth, November 29, 1839 (reiterating complaints that federal authorities have not protected Ruiz against civil prosecution, and that treaty obligations require the return of the Amistad and the Africans to Cuban authorities).

Forsyth to Argaiz, December 12, 1839 (defending federal government's conduct in the Amistad case and in the civil suit against Ruiz).

Treaties

The commercial treaty of 1795 between Spain and the U.S. (under which Spain demands the return of the Africans).