The Marshall Trilogy and its Implications on Indian Nations
Michael L. Jones
ETHN 100 – Ethnic America
Professor Nelson
February 25, 2014
The Marshall Trilogy and its Implications on Indian Nations Throughout the developing history of the United States, native peoples have been there at the side of expanding colonial populations. Always in the periphery of expansion, never fully understood and never maintaining the same rights as that of a “white man”. Written history has often portrayed native peoples as savages and people without reason, ones which must be provided for by the governments in power. It is this shortsighted revelation that would prevail throughout western societal perception and cement the subservient role of the Native peoples. The progression of this rhetoric developed within the United States Supreme Court, namely through the opinions of Chief Justice John Marshall. There are three cases, commonly referred to as the Marshall Trilogy that would set forth the framework for federal Indian law, of which would be used to further diminish and scatter the sovereignty of the native peoples. The first of these cases was a property dispute between Thomas Johnson and William Mc’Intosh. The quarrel regarded who possessed proper legal title to land which both men claimed to be theirs. The case was brought before the Supreme Court in 1823 to be settled. Mr. Johnson had purchased the land from the Piankeshaw Indians while Mr. Mc’Intosh had been granted patent by the United States government. The plaintiff’s case was made through the accounting of 200 years of land transactions beginning with the English crown in 1609 and ending with the holding of the land by that of the Piankeshaw Indians and sale to the plaintiff. The defendant’s case was presented much more plainly, beginning with the American Revolution were the dependence on the English Crown ceased, therefore any claims held and recognized by Europe were now invalid, making McIntosh’s claim the only valid title to the land. Addition claim was made
ETHN 100 – Ethnic America
Professor Nelson
February 25, 2014
The Marshall Trilogy and its Implications on Indian Nations Throughout the developing history of the United States, native peoples have been there at the side of expanding colonial populations. Always in the periphery of expansion, never fully understood and never maintaining the same rights as that of a “white man”. Written history has often portrayed native peoples as savages and people without reason, ones which must be provided for by the governments in power. It is this shortsighted revelation that would prevail throughout western societal perception and cement the subservient role of the Native peoples. The progression of this rhetoric developed within the United States Supreme Court, namely through the opinions of Chief Justice John Marshall. There are three cases, commonly referred to as the Marshall Trilogy that would set forth the framework for federal Indian law, of which would be used to further diminish and scatter the sovereignty of the native peoples. The first of these cases was a property dispute between Thomas Johnson and William Mc’Intosh. The quarrel regarded who possessed proper legal title to land which both men claimed to be theirs. The case was brought before the Supreme Court in 1823 to be settled. Mr. Johnson had purchased the land from the Piankeshaw Indians while Mr. Mc’Intosh had been granted patent by the United States government. The plaintiff’s case was made through the accounting of 200 years of land transactions beginning with the English crown in 1609 and ending with the holding of the land by that of the Piankeshaw Indians and sale to the plaintiff. The defendant’s case was presented much more plainly, beginning with the American Revolution were the dependence on the English Crown ceased, therefore any claims held and recognized by Europe were now invalid, making McIntosh’s claim the only valid title to the land. Addition claim was made