HIS 410 Lesson 2

.docx

School

Purdue Global University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

410

Subject

History

Date

Feb 20, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

2

Uploaded by ChefLlamaPerson400 on coursehero.com

Lesson 2 Submit an online discussion posting which responds to the following prompt and addresses the major components of the readings (including those from Cherokee). How do the perspectives of Walter Echohawk (Pawnee) and Judge Robert Yazzie (Navajo) enhance or conflict with the other readings from this week? Answer: Jill Norgren’s “The Cherokee Cases” provides a historical backdrop of the events leading up to Cherokee Nation bringing three landmark cases to the United States Supreme Court. State v Tassels (1830), Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), and Worchester v Georgia (1832) all argue that the state of Georgia breached agreements between the United States government and the Cherokee regarding Cherokee sovereignty (Norgren p. 7, 2004). What I found to be most eye opening were the multi-faceted approaches that the United States, on an individual, state by state, and on a federal level sought to obtain rights to American Indian lands and how the Cherokee Nation resisted but succumbed to the policies over time. Outside of the spread of disease, little was taught to me in public school about the implications of early trade between the Europeans and the Native Americans. The introduction of world economic markets, and the ensuing debt that followed; debts that brought about overhunting, dependence on alcohol, and loss of land to settle debts (Norgren pp. 21, 25, 2004). The Honorable Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation, highlights the fundamental differences between Western legal philosophies and that of the Navajo Nation. He argues that the United States uses a “vertical” system of law, a system of adjudication based on the destruction of one of the two parties involved through guilt and punishment, whereas the Navajo prefer a “horizontal” or “peacemaking” system (Yazzie pp. 177-178, 1994). Navajo peacemaking focuses on healing and nourishing relationships, restorative justice, and correcting wrongs to restore a moral balance. To me, the legal philosophies Yazzie describes have much in common with The Northwest Ordinance of 1787. An ordinance that should have granted 5th Amendment protections of seizure to the land held by tribal nations during the removal period that began after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Norgren p.37, 2004). When the Monroe administration underestimated the resistance of the Cherokee and Creek to complementary removal policies, Secretary of
War Calhoun “encouraged the use of ruse, subterfuge, circumvention, and outright fraud” to cede lands from tribal nations (Norgren p.39, 2004). This is a direct contrast to the terms of The Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Echo-Hawk discusses the rise of the settler state, and how it is deeply rooted in colonial laws and social structures. He mentions Franciscus de Victoria’s definition of a “just war” as a conflict to which the victors were entitled to complete conquest, per the Absolutist Doctrine of Discovery (Echo-Hawk, p. 18, 2010). I see how this was applied in a moral standpoint after the 1812 war against the British and the tribal nations that allied with them, including the Creek and Tecumseh. Unfortunately, this viewpoint was also held toward the Cherokee, who sided with the United States in this war (Norgren p.39, 2004). Outdated doctrines of colonialism, manifest destiny, and inadequate legal protections persist to this day, and Echo-Hawk argues that it is a lack of information regarding the history of Native American communities that allow misinformation to propagate (Echo-Hawk, p. 13, 2010). References: Yazzie, Robert. “Life Comes from It: Navajo Justice Concepts” New Mexico Law Review Spring 1994 Norgren, Jill. The Cherokee Cases: Two Landmark Federal Decisions in the Fight for Sovereignty. University of Oklahoma Press, 2004 Echo-Hawk, Walter. In the Courts of the Conqueror. Fulcrom 2010
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help