Mutiny on the Amistad by Howard Jones;

Author:Howard Jones; [Jones, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780195038293
Publisher: OxfordUP
Published: 2014-04-03T10:11:03+00:00

III

Baldwin had meanwhile become more suspicious of the White House’s intentions after receiving no cooperation in his effort to secure documents relating to the case. When he had first cited Spanish laws and treaties in arguing that his clients were not slaves, the United States district attorney demanded that the court admit only authenticated copies of the documents. Baldwin had asked the White House for copies from State Department files, but Forsyth replied that the papers were missing, leading Baldwin to believe that the administration was engaged in a concerted effort to undercut the defense by denying essential evidence. The controversy over documents soon took a more serious turn when nonabolitionists joined Baldwin and friends in believing that the Van Buren administration had altered documents to substantiate its case.19

Baldwin had written Representative William L. Storrs of Connecticut outlining the defense counsels’ difficulty in getting authentic copies of documents that the attorney general had wanted during the district court proceedings—the treaty of 1817 and the royal decree of 1838. Thinking that the same situation could arise in circuit court, Baldwin had written Forsyth for documents from State Department files on the issue during the Adams-Onís negotiations of 1819. To Baldwin’s surprise, Forsyth replied that neither the copy of the treaty sent by Lord Castlereagh nor that sent by Luis de Onís was in the files. Baldwin wrote to the president asking him either to direct the district attorney to admit the documents referred to as authentic evidence or to accept the Spanish government’s offer to put relevant documents into the State Department files. But even though Baldwin had written this letter early in April, the district attorney stated in circuit court on April 29 that he had received no instructions from the president. Moreover, Baldwin was aware of no effort to have documents placed in State Department files. Baldwin explained to Storrs that the only way to secure the documents was to enlist the aid of the House of Representatives. Baldwin said that he would consider it a “favor” if Storrs showed this letter to John Quincy Adams, who had been secretary of state during the negotiations with Onís. Baldwin hoped that Adams would inquire whether these documents, “which it [seemed had] been withdrawn from the Department of State,” might not be among the files of other departments in Washington.20

In late April, Tappan wrote Baldwin that it was “very singular” that documents relating to foreign affairs were not on file in the office of the secretary of state. Baldwin, Sedgwick, and Staples had recently inquired about seeing the Anglo-Spanish Treaty of 1817, hoping to prove that Spain had prohibited the slave trade. Forsyth had replied to all three attorneys that no copy was on file. Tappan wrote his brother Benjamin, a United States senator from Ohio, asking him to see the president about the matter. Three days later Tappan wrote Baldwin again, saying that his brother saw the president, who wrote on the back of Lewis’s letter an order to the secretary of state to provide copies of the desired documents—if Forsyth considered them genuine.

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