Outcome Documents for
200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism
This website is the official archive of the outcome publications from the Henry J. Luce Foundation Grant Funded project “200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism". Professor Philip P. Arnold was the PI on this project which ran from 2022-2024. Project activities included a conference, podcasts, and various types of publications.
Summary #
“200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism,” is a collaborative initiative made possible through relationships developed over 30 years between academic and Indigenous communities. At its core, the project seeks to interrogate and critically examine connections between the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DOCD), the Catholic Papal Bulls that undergird the Doctrine, and the Doctrine’s pernicious influence on United States Indian Law today.
The 200th anniversary of JvM provides an excellent moment to challenge the theology and jurisprudence of DOCD and this critical Supreme Court decision. The project will deliver a range of digital products and written works combined with a host of public outreach activities to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of the DOCD and provide support for a global movement of Indigenous People’s that seek to repudiate it.
The Monroe Doctrine (1823) - Domination Translator Series - Part 6
Part 06 of Steven T. Newcomb's Domination Translator Series examining the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. Supreme Court cases. The Monroe Doctrine (1823) extended U.S. claims of 'ultimate dominion' over the Western Hemisphere, following the Doctrine of Discovery.
Steven T. Newcomb
The Marshall Trilogy: Worcester v. Georgia (1832) - Domination Translator Series - Part 5
Part 05 of Steven T. Newcomb's Domination Translator Series examining the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. Supreme Court cases. The 1832 Worcester v. Georgia ruling protected Native nations from state laws, yet affirmed federal domination under the Doctrine of Discovery.
Steven T. Newcomb
The Marshall Trilogy: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) - Domination Translator Series - Part 4
Part 04 of Steven T. Newcomb's Domination Translator Series examining the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. Supreme Court cases. In 1831, the Cherokee Nation sought Supreme Court protection from Georgia's laws designed to annihilate their political existence.
Steven T. Newcomb
The Marshall Trilogy: Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823) - Domination Translator Series - Part 3
Part 03 of Steven T. Newcomb's Domination Translator Series examining the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. Supreme Court cases. The 1823 landmark Johnson v. McIntosh case established the Doctrine of Discovery as U.S. law, denying Native nations' property rights.
Steven T. Newcomb
Fletcher v. Peck (1810) - Domination Translator Series - Part 2
Part 02 of Steven T. Newcomb's Domination Translator Series examining the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. Supreme Court cases. The Fletcher v. Peck case examined whether the U.S. courts would recognize Indian title to land, and how colonial charters justified domination.
Steven T. Newcomb
The Domination Translator Series - Complete Index
The Domination Translator Series is a comprehensive 15-part extended essay examining the historical and ongoing impact of the Doctrine of Discovery on United States legal jurisprudence. Trace the evolution of how medieval principles of Christian supremacy became embedded in American constitutional law from 1810 to the present.
Steven T. Newcomb
The Domination Translator Series: An Extended Essay on Various U.S. Supreme Court Rulings and Other Topics - Part 1
The Domination Translator Series is a comprehensive 15-part extended essay examining the historical and ongoing impact of the Doctrine of Discovery on United States legal jurisprudence. This introduction establishes the context and methodology for analyzing how the Doctrine of Discovery—a medieval principle of Christian supremacy used to justify European colonization—has been embedded in American constitutional law and continues to affect indigenous peoples and their rights.
Steven T. Newcomb
Examining the Doctrine of Discovery in Religion and Indigenous Studies
Since the publication of Pagans in the Promised Land by Steven T. Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape), scholarship on the Doctrine of Discovery has expanded significantly as a central issue in Indigenous law and politics. However, its implications remain underexamined in Religious Studies, Indigenous Studies, and legal scholarship. This article analyzes the matrix of enslavement, exploitation, and extraction that Newcomb identifies within settler-colonial systems and examines how scholars in Religious Studies, Legal Studies, and Indigenous Studies have engaged with the Doctrine of Discovery. Situating the Doctrine of Discovery within the broader analytical frameworks of enslavement, systemic violence, and religious imperialism reveals its deep entanglement with historic and legal structures of oppression. Examining its intersections with Religious Studies and postcolonial scholarship uncover how white Christian hegemony maintains its dominion and exposes the fragility of any perceived boundary between church and state.
Adam DJ Brett
Betty Hill (Lyons)
The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Great Binding Peace
The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Great Binding Peace investigates the ancient democratic and spiritual traditions of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and their relevance for addressing contemporary ecological and social crises. Arnold and Bigtree foreground the Great Binding Peace—a protocol rooted in matrilineal clan systems and a philosophy of reciprocal relationship with all beings—as a living tradition preserved by the Onondaga Nation and its role as the Central Fire of the confederacy.The essay challenges modern frameworks that have contributed to planetary degradation, arguing that many such systems originate from religious and colonial worldviews that undermine regenerative reciprocity. It traces the Peacemaker’s founding of the Great Binding Peace through figures like Jikonhsaseh, Hiawatha, and Tadodaho, emphasizing how these teachings embed peace, equity, and responsibility across human and non-human communities. The authors also highlight the Haudenosaunee influence on early Western democratic thought and critique the historical marginalization of Indigenous governance by colonial institutions. By advocating for a religious recalibration toward Indigenous values of mutual care and ecological balance, the essay suggests that revisiting the Great Binding Peace offers a transformative pathway for healing the rift between humanity and the natural world.
Philip P. Arnold
Sandra Bigtree
Religious Moral Suasion and Material Support for the Environmental Justice Movement
The Environmental Justice (EJ) movement in the United States is comprised of diverse groups of people with a variety of environmental grievances and interests coming together to obtain equal distribution of pollution burdens across communities, reduce environmental hazards, and ensure fair enforcement of laws and policies meant to safeguard the environment for all. The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice developed in 1991 at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit remains a touchstone document today
Sarah Nahar
