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Article: The Sovereignty of Native Americans
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- American Eras
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Research Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Sovereignty of Native Americans
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Racial Assumptions.
Several important Supreme Court decisions centered on the status of Native Americans in the United States. Two types of conflicts were particularly significant. The first involved Native Americans
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relationship to the land. Whites claiming to have purchased land from Indians found themselves in conflict with whites claiming to have been granted the same land by a state government. In litigation to determine the title, the fundamental question was whether Native Americans owned the land on which they lived, since ownership of land included the right to convey it. A second important controversy involved the autonomy ...