The Amistad, also known as
United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad,
40 U.S. 518 (1841), was a
United States Supreme Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the Spanish
schooner La Amistad in 1839. It was an unusual
freedom suit that involved international issues and parties, as well as United States law. The historian
Samuel Eliot Morison in 1965 described it as the most important court case involving slavery before being eclipsed by that of
Dred Scott.