Johnson v McIntosh Decision

Feb. 28, 1823

Johnson v McIntosh Decision Ni-a-có-mo, a Piankeshaw person painted in 1830 by George Catlin, Smithsonian American Art Museum
[The Marshall Triology] First official introduction of the Doctrine of Discovery into United States municipal law by the US Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Rules that Native people can only convey land to the Federal government- not to private parties. One of the most influential and well known decisions of the Marshall court. The Tribe which had sold land to a private party was the Piankeshaw, but they were not party to this lawsuit.