 In 1842 , Benjamin had a group of cases with international implications . He represented insurance companies being sued for the value of slaves who had revolted aboard the ship Creole in 1841 , as they were being transported in the coastwise slave trade from Virginia to New Orleans . The rebels had sailed the ship to Nassau in the Bahamas , British territory , where most were freed , as Britain had abolished slavery . The owners of the slaves brought suit for $ 150 @,@ 000 against their insurers , who declined to pay . Benjamin made several arguments , the most prominent of which was that the slaveowners had brought the revolt on themselves by packing the slaves in overcrowded conditions . 
