Graduation Date
Spring 2022
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Social Science, Environment and Community
Committee Chair Name
Marlon Sherman
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
J. Mark Baker
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Joseph Diémé
Third Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Christian, Crusades, Discovery, Genocide, Indian, Land, Law, M'Intosh, Muscogee, Native American, Church, Slavery, Court, Trauma, Treaty
Subject Categories
Environment and Community
Abstract
Using hermeneutical methodology, this paper examines some of the legal fictions that form the foundation of Federal Indian Law. The text of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh opinion is evaluated through the lens of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to determine the extent to which the Supreme Court incorporated genocidal principles into United States common law. The genealogy of M’Intosh is examined to identify influences that are not fully apparent on the face of the case. International jurisprudential interpretations of the legal definition of genocide are summarized and used as a basis for constructing an analytical framework. The framework is then applied to the reasoning in the M’Intosh case to evaluate the extent to which principles of Christian Discovery shaped the M’Intosh Court’s reasoning and, by extension, are the basis of dispossessing Native peoples of their lands, autonomy, and lives.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Boshell, Cynthia J., "Johnson v. M'intosh: Christianity, genocide, and the dispossession of indigenous peoples" (2022). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 561.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/561
Included in
Christianity Commons, Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, History of Religion Commons, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, International Law Commons, Judges Commons, Legal Commons, Legal History Commons, Legal Studies Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Political Science Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Religion Law Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons, United States History Commons