The Oneida Nation of New York originally held lands numbering 6,000,000 acres, but through a series of treaties in the 1800’s and land sales was brought down to 34 acres. In 2004, the Oneida Nation purchased some of the original land back on the open market. The town of Sherrill attempted to tax the land, demanding payment from the tribe. The tribe claimed the purchased land was now part of their territory and thus nontaxable. The case reached the Supreme Court, where Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the Court’s decision: Under the “doctrine of discovery … “fee title to the lands occupied by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested (owned completely) in the sovereign—first the discovering European nation and later the original States and the United States,”

Question:(Research the case and discover how the court ruled.)

It me to understand the world and my place in it. for example, (and i know i’m using the terminology ‘historical perspective’ loosely here; some of my examples may be better termed an ‘evolutionary perspective’) knowing that all humans can trace their ancestry back to a common ancestor who lived in southern ethiopia ~200,000 years ago makes me feel connected to everyone on the planet. knowing that some of our ancestors left africa about 70,000 years ago and interbred with more archaic hominin species in europe and elsewhere, me to see the stupidity of white supremacist ‘purity of the race’ themes. seeing how religion was used to enslave people, and how callously lives were thrown away by those in power in the world wars of the past century makes me feel extremely fortunate to be living in the modern era. and, perhaps most importantly is that this knowledge makes me for the sacrifices our ancestors made to get us to this point, and determined to do my part to make the world a better place for the next generation.