In Perspective

TL;DR: The reaction to the Supreme Court decision on the Amistad case was predictable, with Southerners expressing dissatisfaction, Northerners praising the verdict without considering its implications for slavery, and abolitionists celebrating it as a milestone for their cause.

Abstract: Abstract The reaction to the Supreme Court decision was predictable. Southerners were not pleased, Northerners praised the verdict without discerning any implications for slavery, and the abolitionists pronounced it ,a milestone for their cause. Expressions of dissatisfaction in the South were mild, which perhaps suggested that the Emancipator was correct when it had earlier observed that the Southern press wished to keep the Amistad affair quiet for fear of its setting a dangerous precedent for American slaves. The Mobile Commercial Register & Patriot considered the court decree an "insult" to Spain and "no small triumph" for the abolitionists, whereas the Charleston Courier and the New Orleans Times Picayune merely reported the outcome. The Courier remarked, however, that Story's ruling had not "come up to the expectation of many in its arguments."