The Old Indian Trail Cases

The Chickasaw Tribe was named after a Chickasaw Leader named Chikasha. The story is that two brothers Chata and Chickasha who were leaders and they split in different directions and the people that followed them was given the tribal name of Choctaw and Chickasaw.

Culture incorporates many different aspects of life such as religion, food, language, ethnicity, and many more. All of these aspects influence the way a person lives and acts. Although culture provides a positive influence by bestowing self worth, it could also negatively affect someone’s life. Culture affects a person in many ways by creating internal and external conflict, which influences the way others view them and therefore affects their actions and how they feel about themselves.

In Chapter 6, Wilkins discusses how the disclaimer clauses. These clauses keep states from exercising authority on Indian land (180). They are an “important but often overlooked tool in the arsenal available to tribes to assert their own sovereignty against state threats” (177). A specific example of a disclaimer clause is Wisconsin’s territorial disclaimer of 1836 which prohibited territories or states from having any authority on Indian land (180). In Native American Church v. Navajo Tribal Council (1959) it was declared that Indian tribes actually have a higher status than states (179). This was a major victory for Indians in their fight for sovereignty. United States v. Rickert (1903) was also a win for sovereignty in that the Court prohibited South Dakota from taxing Indian land (185).After the verdict in Seminole Tribe v. Florida (1996), the balance of power between state and federal government leaned towards the states. Before this, negotiations with tribes had been conducted at the federal level and not with states (187). This was against the idea of sovereignty because now the states had more power over the tribes and could abuse that power for personal gain.

The arrival of the ‘foreigners’, as referred to by the Native Americans, turned a new stone in Native American diplomacy. No longer did they have to only deal with neighboring tribes, as they were forced to endeavor into politics with strangers who were looking to take their land. The first relationship between the pilgrims and the Native Americans began with the Wampanoag tribe. The relations between the two groups paved the view that the pilgrims had towards the Indians. The decently friendly relationship that stood between the two groups was short lived as the pilgrims felt that the indians were getting in the way of their expansion; and shortly after the friendship ceased to exist (Bell, 37).

The Marshall Trilogy is a term used to describe the three federal court cases that are the basis of federal Indian Law. John Marshall was the Chief of Justice during this time and he played a significant role in these cases. John Marshall and other justices believed that Native American tribes should be allowed to retain their independent “nations” status, and only the Federal Government would have the power to relate with them.

On May 28, 1830 Andrew Jackson, the president at the time, signed the Indian Removal Act making it a law. The law gave the U.S. government the right to exchange land west of the Mississippi for Indian Territory in the state borders. Some tribes relocated peacefully, but most resisted the relocation. The United States government forced Cherokee Indians to move and 4,000 of them died being relocated giving the forced movement the name “Trail of Tears.”

Each town had a council, usually made up of a religious leader and elders. The council discussed important matters such as going to war against an enemy tribe. The council members and people of the town debated an issue until they agreed on what to do.

The poem, “The Theft Outright” by Heid E. Erdrich, a Native American poet, refutes claims made in another poem, “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost, that America was empty before the colonists. In his poem, Frost claims that America was “unstoried, artless, [and] unenhanced,”(Frost 15) demonstrating blatant racism by erasing the entire Native American culture and race from American history. Erdrich counters his beliefs by citing the colorful, full lives of Indians in the past and now, directly juxtaposing his work by saying that the Americas are “still storied, art-filled, [and] fully enhanced”(Erdrich 30) from the Native Americans that lived there. Similarly, the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie deals with racism. It tells the story of Arnold Spirit Jr, a Native American boy who wants a better life, so he switches schools from his poverty stricken school to an all white school in a small town called Reardan. Junior frequently faces challenges of racism; he is seen as less than his white peers at his new school because he is Indian, and he is constantly being shown by others’ words and actions that he does not deserve a quality education because of his heritage. Despite the novel’s humorous style, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” provides accurate commentary on education and racism in recent times through Junior’s experiences at Reardan, with his developing friendship with Gordy, his views on the pedestals that white

According to Luke J. Merrimen of Barrister and Solicitor Criminal Defense Litigation, “Outside the confines of [the] criminal justice system, an allegation often carries with it a presumption of guilt, and in the minds of some, an absolute certainty of guilt.” Due to the fact that each person is guaranteed to be innocent until proven guilty, vigilante justice often infringes upon this presumption of innocence because vigilantes often see the suspected lawbreaker as guilty before collecting facts about the supposed committed crime. This being the case, the suspected lawbreaker is given no chance to provide the vigilante with facts, leading to a hasty judgement by the vigilante. If vigilante based justice was allowed, there would logically be an increase in people being wrongly accused. Overall, vigilantism seizes the right of presumption of innocence given to each United States

In the early 1800s the rapidly growing United State needed to expand its borders to support its people’s needs. Andrew Jackson used his power and influence as the President of the United States to forcefully remove the Cherokee from their land to claim it for the United States. Andrew Jackson’s decision to remove the Cherokee Indians west of the Mississippi in the early 1830s continued the of social, economic, and political policies of the United States but still showed signs of political change as well. .

For decades, when a Native American woman has been assaulted or raped by a man who is non-Indian, she has had little or no recourse. Under long-standing law in Indian country, reservations are sovereign nations with their own police departments and courts in charge of prosecuting crimes on tribal land. But Indian police have lacked the legal authority to arrest non-Indian men who commit acts of domestic violence against native women on reservations, and tribal courts have lacked the authority to prosecute the men.

Did you know that 31% of Germany has been kept with forests and woodlands? Or that In 1831, the Choctaw Indians endured death and starvation when they were forced out of Mississippi to travel the Trail of Tears? My German heritage affects me in a few ways, and my Choctaw heritage doesn’t affect me very much, but the two German traditions that I do are decorating christmas trees, and painting easter eggs. One from my Choctaw heritage that I want to try is

Native American and Mennonite Approaches In the traditional criminal justice system people who are accused of a crime are tried in a court of law by the state in which the crime was committed. These criminals are punished by the court system and there is no real regard for all the people who were affected by the criminal act. “The current retributive criminal justice system ignores the victims' needs and leaves them to flounder in the adversity system where they are often further victimized in court processes" (Hart, 2004, p. 153). Furthermore, “the justice system of America, and most or all countries in the Western World, operates on the foundation of punishment.

Alaska faces a variety of different problems. One of the main concerns of Alaskans is the abuse of drugs and alcohol (Alcohol and Drug Abuse). Abusing these substances causes a lot of wrongdoing in communities and creates obstacles that dramatically affect the people of Alaska, especially in rural areas. Tribal courts across the state attempt to resolve these problems by establishing an array of different rules and regulations to help protect the Alaskan people. Without community support- change is not ensured (Tanana Chiefs 95).

When the western system of law let Lark walk free, citizens of the reservation took a somewhat vigilantism approach to dealing with Lark; QUOTE ABOUT LARK’S ASSAULT. Joe takes this a step further and plans and executes the murder of Lark. QUOTE ABOUT NANAPUSH HAVING TO KILL HIS MOTHER. Though Joe did not consciously parallel Nanapush’s story, avenging his mother does regardless echo the traditional Ojibwe justice system. Circumstances’ forcing Joe to extralegal methods of obtaining justice for his mother’s assault underscores the fact that his family was not going to get justice in any legal way.