Camille Stewart Gloucester

So within the United States Constitution, there are three clauses that define the United States' legal relationship to American Indians.

Right.

And also during this period, um, well, well, later on when we have, um,

So this is the removal period and what a lot of people may have heard of.

And what brought about this federal act was a series of three foundational statutes within federal Indian policy dictated by Chief Justice John Marshall.

And what is notable in each one of these statutes, I believe particularly in Worcester v.

Georgia, although it seems that it was

supporting tribal sovereignty in that they were above state jurisdiction.

Yeah.

So the Removal Act happened after all of these statutes that you already had that supported federal Indian sovereignty.

And so the Cherokees in Georgia were one of the tribes that were removed.

And so you kind of see what you talked about, the

justification for settler expansion and so again we bring it back to these themes of like settler colonialism in order to um kind of gain more of this land and a lot of these statutes are still cited the doctrine of discovery in them and rather than supporting tribal policy

the relationship between the United States federal government and American Indians, um, was not based on the rights of Indians, but more that they can't, they can't govern themselves.

Right.

And there's a couple of federal Indian policy theorists, Vine Deloria Jr., who's one of the most famous ones, and David E. Wilkins, who talks about how there is no need for checks and balances within the federal Indian policy system.

the Battle of Recygrass or the Little Bighorn, where General Custer was killed by Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos, and different instances of battles such as those, and also where a lot of tribes were forcibly removed to

Um, and next, um, you have the termination era.

So the federal Indian government as trying to get rid of tribes, especially as you can see in this era.

And just kind of like other policies that have given the tribes more rights to determine for themselves and their own people to a certain degree underneath the federal government as domestic dependent nations.