密歇根新闻广播 最高法院是如何操纵土地针对当地人的?

This is part two in our series "An Idea on the Land." To hear part one, click here.

It was 1823. The land of Michigan wasn't yet a state. The indigenous¹ people far outnumbered the white settlers. The Erie Canal hadn't opened. The flood of European immigrants was yet to arrive.

But the groundwork for their arrival was set in 1823 by the U.S. Supreme² Court in a case about property rights.

The case: Johnson v. M'Intosh.

On the fourth floor of the Michigan State University law school building, on a windowsill that overlooks the campus, Wenona Singel keeps her family photos.

Singel is a law professor here, and associate director of MSU's Indigenous Law & Policy Center.

Family is the reason she went to law school, she says.

When she was young, she was separated from her sister in what she says was a coerced³ adoption⁴.

It's a familiar story in many native families.

"And, in my mind, understanding the operation of our legal system and the developmentof federal Indian law and policy was absolutely critical," she says.

So when she got older, she went to law school — at Harvard.

All first-year Harvard law students had to take a class on property law. That is where Singel first heard of the landmark⁵ case known as Johnson v M'Intosh.

"The original Johnson of the case was actually a former Supreme Court justice, and awealthy shareholder⁶ in the Illinois and Wabash Land Company," Singel says. "And this land company had speculated in the purchase of Indian lands."

It purchased those lands directly from the tribes.

At that same time, the U.S. federal government was out trying to get land from tribes. It negotiated treaties with the tribes. Once the government got the land, it would parcel it out to sell to settlers.

So along comes this settler named M'Intosh. He buys from the government. But the land he buys, well it's already been bought, by the Illinois and Wabash Land Company.

Remember, that's the group of wealthy investors⁷ that buys directly from the tribes. And Johnson is a part of that group.

So Johnson bought from the tribe.

M'Intosh bought from the U.S. government.

The question before the Supreme Court: Who really owned the land now — Johnson or M'Intosh?

It's an easy question if you think the tribe owned its land in the first place. Because if the tribe owned it, it could sell it to the Illinois and Wabash Land Company, Johnson's group. Johnson wins.

But the real question was whether the tribe owned the land in the first place.

Did they even have the power to sell it?

"And, to the surprise of the lawyers and shareholders⁸ in the Illinois and Wabash Land Company, Justice Marshall in the Johnson v. M'Intosh case declared that the tribes did not have this power." Singel says. "And that they only had the power to transfer their property to the federal government."

M'Intosh won because he had bought from the federal government. Justice Marshall argued the federal government was the true owner of the land all along.

The indigenous people of the U.S. had some rights on their land. They had the rightto use and occupy it. But they couldn't sell it on the open market because they didn't really own it.

That was the official legal ruling for the United States government: that native people did not actually own the land they'd lived on for thousands of years.

And yes, this decision had a huge impact. If and when native people ever did want to sell their land rights, there was only one buyer they could turn to. That meant the buyer had the upper hand in the negotiations⁹ over price.

It was a rigged deal.

Singel learned all of this as a busy, stressed, first-year law student.

"And then you move on to the next case," she says. "And there's no further discussionof the wrong that this perpetuates¹⁰. And also the flawed reasoning. And also fundamentally misinformed and racist¹¹ presumptions¹² that our property legal system is based upon."

And this isn't some obscure case. It's foundational in the U.S. legal system. Most law schools teach it to all their students in the first year.

"In many ways, it's almost like gaslighting," Singel says now. "You're learning about ...certain rights that are associated with property rights — the right of possession, theright to exclude, the right to transfer —knowing all along that these rights have not been respected, and were not enforced for your own ancestors."

One of the passages in the actual text of the Supreme Court decision reads:

"The tribes of Indians inhabiting this country were fierce savages¹³, whose occupation was war, and whose subsistence was drawn¹⁴ chiefly from the forest. To leave them in possession of their country was to leave the country a wilderness¹⁵."

This language, and the precedent¹⁶ it established, has never been overturned in America's legal system. It is valid¹⁷ law today.

"Imagine if Plessy v Ferguson was never overturned," Singel says. "Imagine if Dred Scott was never overturned...We've never had any kind of accounting¹⁸ and justice that has restored those original property rights."

After Johnson v. M'Intosh, the early white leaders of Michigan drafted a series of treaties with the native people of the area. These documents would have the tribes signtheir land over to the federal government.

Lewis Cass was Michigan's second governor. He negotiated a number of the treaties. Inthe late 1820s, he advocated the forced removal of the land's native people. In his argument, he echoed the words of Justice Marshall. He claimed if white people didn't rulethe land, Michigan would be doomed¹⁹:

"A tribe of wandering hunters, depending upon the chase for support, and deriving²⁰ it from the forests, and rivers, and lakes, of an immense continent, have a very imperfect possession of the country over which they roam," Cass argued. "That they are entitled to such supplies as may be necessary for their subsistence, and as they can procure²¹, noone can justly question. But this right cannot be exclusive, unless the forests which shelter them are doomed to perpetual unproductiveness."

Cass didn't get his wish for removal. But he did eventually get treaties.

And the white people did make the land productive, in their way.

The same as they had done in all of the Americas, says Willie Jennings of Yale Divinity School. They did what they believed their God wanted them to do.

"The way they looked at the land, from the very beginning, from Michigan to Maine, from Virginia to Florida, they looked at the land as the world-in-potential that needed development," Jennings says. "And that development was always tied to what can be taken from the land."

In Michigan, a land of dense²², ancient forests, they could take a lot.

Tomorrow, we'll look at what happened next. The story of the trees, tomorrow in ourseries, "An Idea on the Land."

1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

5 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

6 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

9 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

10 perpetuates   

n.使永存，使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 )；使永久化，使持久化，使持续

参考例句：

• Giving these events a lot of media coverage merely perpetuates the problem. 媒体大量地报道这些事件只会使问题持续下去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Lack of water perpetuates poverty, increases the risk of political instability, and affects global prosperity. 水资源短缺导致贫穷，使政局不稳，且影响全球的繁荣。 来自互联网

11 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

12 presumptions   

n.假定( presumption的名词复数 )；认定；推定；放肆

参考例句：

• Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security. 许多现代技术的发展都是基于这些法律安全设想的考虑。 来自互联网
• What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight? 那一种想象，那一种期望和推测能超越他之上呢？ 来自互联网

13 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

16 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

17 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

18 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

19 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

20 deriving   

v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• I anticipate deriving much instruction from the lecture. 我期望从这演讲中获得很多教益。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He anticipated his deriving much instruction from the lecture. 他期望从这次演讲中得到很多教益。 来自辞典例句

21 procure   

vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条

参考例句：

• Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗？
• I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。

22 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。