The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal principle that still informs American jurisprudence. In the 1828 Supreme Court case Johnson v. M'Intosh, "Chief Justice John Marshall justified the way in which colonial powers laid claim to lands belonging to sovereign indigenous nations during the Age of Discovery. Under it, title to lands lay with the government whose subjects explored and occupied a territory whose inhabitants were not subjects of a European Christian monarch. The origins of the doctrine can be traced to Pope Nicholas V's issuance of the papal bull Romanus Pontifex in 1455."
In 2012, New York Yearly Meeting approved a minute condemning the doctrine, declaring that "We cannot accept that the Doctrine of Discovery was ever a true authority for the forced takings of lands and the enslavement or extermination of peoples. It is reprehensible for the United States to use the Doctrine of Discovery as a legal doctrine to compel a jurisdiction over Indigenous Peoples or their lands." The Yearly Meeting also developed a fact sheet on the subject, which can be found online here. Baltimore Yearly Meeting approved a similar minute in 2012, and New England Yearly Meeting approved a minute in 2013. Monthly meetings have also approved minutes of their own, as is the case with Boulder Monthly Meeting.
Other denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association have also repudiated the doctrine in recent years.
Has this question come before your monthly or yearly meeting for consideration? How might Friends best respond to the concerns raised by the doctrine's use as a basis for American law?
In 2012, New York Yearly Meeting approved a minute condemning the doctrine, declaring that "We cannot accept that the Doctrine of Discovery was ever a true authority for the forced takings of lands and the enslavement or extermination of peoples. It is reprehensible for the United States to use the Doctrine of Discovery as a legal doctrine to compel a jurisdiction over Indigenous Peoples or their lands." The Yearly Meeting also developed a fact sheet on the subject, which can be found online here. Baltimore Yearly Meeting approved a similar minute in 2012, and New England Yearly Meeting approved a minute in 2013. Monthly meetings have also approved minutes of their own, as is the case with Boulder Monthly Meeting.
Other denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association have also repudiated the doctrine in recent years.
Has this question come before your monthly or yearly meeting for consideration? How might Friends best respond to the concerns raised by the doctrine's use as a basis for American law?