What did “Terra Nulius” mean when it was created?

1. As envisioned by several Popes in the Papal Bulls they approved, and by western European Kings (some Catholic, others Protestant), what was the Doctrine of Discovery?

2. a) What did “Terra Nulius” mean when it was created? b) What is its origins, or who first embraced it?

3. What was the Council of Constantine? What did it create, and why?

4. In terms of European exploration and contact with Indigenous peoples everywhere beyond Europe’s borders, describe the consequence of the Doctrine of Discovery. a) What are the Doctrine’s 4 major points? b) How was it understood and practiced by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, and French? c) What was its impact on Native and Indigenous Peoples?

5. Visit LexisNexis, get and read the watershed U.S. Supreme Court case:
Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.), 543, 5 L. Ed. 681 (1823)
a) Analyze what is the case about? b) Why did the case establish a precedent…what was and is that precedent? c) How has the case shaped legal relationships between the United States government and Indigenous Peoples? d) What are the far-reaching ideas, assumptions about control and power, and “rights” granted through the Doctrine of Discovery?

6. In your 1-page conclusion, discuss what can and perhaps should be done about the Doctrine of Discovery as it is embedded in U.S. law at this time?

7. Remember, your paper must use and quote (not more than 8 lines of text) at least 2 primary sources in the paper (the Johnson case can be 1 source and you will have to find another primary source, I would suggest a document that approaches the Doctrine from an Indigenous perspective), and 2 secondary sources…the article on Moodle can be 1 of the secondary sources you quote from).

Lastly, as students of the Enlightenment’s attempt to promote ‘natural rights” and “freedom” you now know something about how a progressive ideology was compromised, ignored, diluted, and even abandoned by the extent to which those obsessed with power and economic greed crafted laws and promoted policies that produced ramifications that we still live with today. In your conclusion, suggest ways that your generation might revisit and remove some of the tentacles of the Doctrine of Discovery.

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