This is the complete, unbound 16-page issue of the March 20, 1841 Niles' National Register, which includes a March 9th Supreme Court ruling (pp. 40-42) that laid out the facts of an alleged slave mutiny aboard the ship Amistad. They allegedly killed several officers and seized the ship subsequently discovered adrift off the Long Island coast. The Court held that the kidnapping and transportation of the alleged slaves was illegal, that they had the right to use force to resist, and that they should be freed. The Court ruled 7 to 1 despite seven of the nine justices being from southern states. John Quincy Adams defended the survivors before the Supreme Court. The case attracted national attention as shown here in the publication of the complete ruling in the leading national newspaper of the time. Likely one of the earliest publications of the ruling in a newspaper.

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Condition: B

There is light toning and scattered foxing.