Marshall Trilogy Case

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In the early to mid 1800’s, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall ruled on three court cases, known as the Marshall Trilogy, that left impacts on Native American sovereignty and rights. These cases battled the issues of federal jurisdiction versus state jurisdiction that was highly contested during that time (.
The first case Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) revolved around the issue of land ownership titles to Indian lands and the right of occupancy. The plaintiff, Johnson, bought and land title from the Piankeshaw Tribe, while the defendant, McIntosh gained his title from a grant that was given to him by the federal government. Since there weren’t any previous documents that dealt with this issue, Marshall based his decision on the Doctrine of Discovery and the Rights of Conquest that stated that if someone comes across uninhabited, it’s their right to take it. Marshall ruled that Indians tribes couldn’t sell or trade land to private parties without the consent of the government, the rights of tribes to absolute sovereignty didn’t exist and they weren’t allowed the power to deal with their land. () …show more content…
Georgia that led to the establishment of Indian tribes as domestic dependent nations and the trust relationship between between the federal government and the tribes. Georgia sought to remove all of the Cherokee from the land, but the court agreed that the federal government, not the states had the power to take over Indian land. Marshall concluded that Indian tribes were to be considered domestic dependent nations that who were dependent on the federal government which had a trust responsibility to protect the tribes while also controlling the tribal actions (pg.. ). The relationship between the government and the tribes is like a child to a parent, where the child is dependent on the parent for almost everything (O’Brien
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