Johnson v. M'Intosh

What happened

Johnson and Graham's lessee claimed land in the State and District of Illinois under two deeds. In the first, on July 5, 1773, chiefs of the Illinois Indians conveyed the land. In the second, on October 18, 1775, chiefs of the Piankeshaws did the same. William M'Intosh held the land under a grant from the United States. The case reached the Supreme Court on a case stated by the parties, after a judgment below for the defendant. It was not a treaty case.

Chief Justice Marshall's opinion held that title to lands under grants made to private individuals by Indian tribes or nations northwest of the river Ohio, in 1773 and 1775, "cannot be recognised in the Courts of the United States." He reasoned that European discovery gave title to the discovering nation, and that "discovery gave an exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy, either by purchase or by conquest." Grants from the European crowns, he wrote, were understood to convey a title to the grantees "subject only to the Indian right of occupancy."

The Court said the Indians were admitted to be the rightful occupants of the soil, with a claim to retain possession and use it. But their right to dispose of the land at their own will was denied. Only the government that held the discovery claim could acquire the underlying title.

The opinion includes language about Native peoples that is now widely seen as offensive; it is not reproduced here.

Good to know. The phrase 'doctrine of discovery' does not appear in the opinion itself.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error