1823

Johnson v. M’Intosh

United States; Indigenous nations

The Supreme Court treated European discovery claims as limiting Indigenous power to convey land to private purchasers. The opinion entrenched a hierarchy between Native occupancy and the sovereign title asserted by the United States.

Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.

Context / qualification

The phrase “domestic dependent nations” belongs to Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), not this case.

Sources

• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), chapter 11
• Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823), opinion ↗

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