Native America: Discovery and Conquest - Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, Manifest Destiny | Historical Exploration & American Frontier Studies for History Enthusiasts

Richard J Miller, Lewis & Clark Law School Professor, citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and chief justice of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon, has written a consummate book. Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny, deserves to be read by every student, and by every citizen, given its extraordinary illumination of 500 years of "international law" that justified conquering non-European, non-white, non-Christian human societies worldwide.Miller's book details the 10 elements comprising Discovery:1. First discovery. The first European country to “discover” new lands unknown to other Europeans gained property and sovereign rights over the lands....2. Actual occupancy and current possession. To fully establish a “first discovery” claim and turn it into a complete title, a European country had to actually occupy and possess newly found lands....3. Preemption/European title. The discovering European country gained the power of preemption, the sole right to buy the land from the native people....4. Indian title. After first discovery, Indian Nations and the indigenous peoples were considered by European and American legal systems to have lost the full property rights and ownership of their lands. They only retained rights to occupy and use their land....5. Tribal limited sovereign and commercial rights. After first discovery, Indian Nations and native peoples were also considered to have lost some of their inherent sovereign powers....6. Contiguity. This element provided that Europeans had a Discovery claim to a reasonable and significant amount of land contiguous to and surrounding their settlements and the lands that they actually possessed in the New World….7. Terra nullius. ...Euro-Americans often considered lands that were actually owned, occupied, and being actively utilized by indigenous people to be “vacant” and available for Discovery claims if they were not being “properly used” according to European and American law and culture.8. Christianity. ...Under Discovery, non-Christian people were not deemed to have the same rights to land, sovereignty, and self-determination as Christians….9. Civilization. ...Euro-Americans thought that God had directed them to bring civilized ways and education and religion to indigenous peoples and often to exercise paternalism and guardianship powers over them.10. Conquest. ...It can mean a military victory. “Conquest” was also used as a “term of art,” a word with a special meaning, when it was used as an element of Discovery.What an extraordinary book!