From Learning English, welcome to The Making of a Nation a weekly program of American history for people learning American English. Im Steve Ember in Washington.
Last time, we talked about the Amistad case. The Amistad was a slave ship from Cuba. In 1839, it appeared off the eastern coast of the United States. The Africans on the ship had killed white crew members, including the captain. They demanded to go back home, to Africa. But the two remaining slave traders on the ship secretly sailed the Amistad toward the United States.
The US government put the Africans in a low-security prison in New Haven, Connecticut. And it made plans to take the Africans to court. A judge would decide whether the occupants of the ship were slaves who had rebelled, murderers, or captives who had been kidnapped from their homes.
The Amistad case brought attention once again to the issue of slavery in the United States. At the time, slavery was legal and an important part of the countrys economy. But the U.S. and several European countries had banned the international slave trade.
A small group of activists wanted to totally end slavery. They believed slavery was a sin. But in the 1830s, most Americans did not support these anti-slavery activists, known as abolitionists.
Most Americans first of all were racists and, secondly, saw these people as utter fanatics who were intent on destroying the union.
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