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Review Of Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty And Federal Law By David E. Wilkins And K. Tsianinia Lomawaima, Blake A. Watson

Blake A Watson

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Chief Justice John Marshall declared that Indian tribes should be acknowledged "as nations, ... having territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive .... " Justice John McLean, however, questioned whether Indians would always exercise the power of self-government, suggesting that Indian tribes would "become amalgamated in our political communities." Justice McLean did not dispute that Indian tribes were sovereign; he questioned whether they would-and should-remain sovereign. Some people continue to raise this question. David Wilkins and Tsianinia Lomawaima, in Uneven Ground, begin with the premise that American Indian tribes remain sovereign nations, but acknowledge …