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Separate, Sovereign, And Subjugated: Native Citizenship And The 1790 Trade And Intercourse Act, Bethany Berger Apr 2024

Separate, Sovereign, And Subjugated: Native Citizenship And The 1790 Trade And Intercourse Act, Bethany Berger

William & Mary Law Review

In 1790, the same year Congress limited naturalization to “free white persons,” it also enacted the first Indian Trade and Intercourse Act. The Trade and Intercourse Act may have even stronger claims to “super statute” status than the Naturalization Act. Key provisions of the Trade and Intercourse Act remain in effect today, and the Act enshrined a tribal, federal, and state relationship that profoundly shapes modern law. Unlike the Naturalization Act, the Trade and Intercourse Act reflected the input of people of color: it responded to the demands of tribal nations and—to a degree—reflected tribal sovereignty. While Indigenous people could …


Tribalism And Democracy, Seth Davis Nov 2020

Tribalism And Democracy, Seth Davis

William & Mary Law Review

Americans have long talked about “tribalism” as a way of talking about their democracy. In recent years, for example, commentators have pointed to “political tribalism” as what ails American democracy. According to this commentary, tribalism is incompatible with democracy. Some commentators have cited Indian Tribes as evidence to support this incompatibility thesis, and the thesis has surfaced within federal Indian law and policy in various guises up to the present day with disastrous consequences for Indian Tribes. Yet much of the talk about tribalism and democracy—within federal Indian law, and also without it—has had little to do with actual tribes. …


Crisis? Whose Crisis?, Jack M. Beermann Mar 2020

Crisis? Whose Crisis?, Jack M. Beermann

William & Mary Law Review

Every moment in human history can be characterized by someone as “socially and politically charged.” For a large portion of the population of the United States, nearly the entire history of the country has been socially and politically charged, first because they were enslaved and then because they were subjected to discriminatory laws and unequal treatment under what became known as “Jim Crow.” The history of the United States has also been a period of social and political upheaval for American Indians, the people who occupied the territory that became the United States before European settlement. Although both African-Americans and …


Natural Resource And Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation, Robert W. Adler Feb 2019

Natural Resource And Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation, Robert W. Adler

William & Mary Law Review

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of civil disobedience over public land policy in the West, sometimes characterized by armed confrontations between ranchers and federal officials. This trend reflects renewed assertions that applicable positive law violates the natural rights (sometimes of purportedly divine origin) of ranchers and other land users, particularly under the prior appropriation doctrine and grounded in Lockean theories of property. At the same time, Native Americans and environmental activists have also relied on civil disobedience to assert natural rights to a healthy environment based on public trust, fundamental human rights, and other principles. This Article …


A Tiny Fish And A Big Problem: Natives, Elvers, And The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Of 1980, John Sanders May 2016

A Tiny Fish And A Big Problem: Natives, Elvers, And The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Of 1980, John Sanders

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


"Power Over This Unfortunate Race": Race, Politics And Indian Law In United States V. Rogers, Bethany R. Berger Apr 2004

"Power Over This Unfortunate Race": Race, Politics And Indian Law In United States V. Rogers, Bethany R. Berger

William & Mary Law Review

"[F]rom the very moment the general government came into existence to this time, it has exercised its power over this unfortunate race in the spirit of humanity and justice, and has endeavoured by every means in its power to enlighten their minds and increase their comforts, and to save them if possible from the consequences of their own vices."

In 1846, in United States v. Rogers, the Supreme Court blithely announced the above vision of the history of Indian-United States relations. The first part of the quote describes Indian people as a race and an inferior one; the second part …


Adjudication And The Problems Of Incommensurability, Brett G. Scharffs Apr 2001

Adjudication And The Problems Of Incommensurability, Brett G. Scharffs

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


Adjudication In Indian Country: The Confusing Parameters Of State, Federal, And Tribal Jurisdiction, Laurie Reynolds Jan 1997

Adjudication In Indian Country: The Confusing Parameters Of State, Federal, And Tribal Jurisdiction, Laurie Reynolds

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.