Research Catalog

Title

The American Indian in western legal thought : the discourses of conquest / Robert A. Williams, Jr.

Author

Williams, Robert A., Jr., 1955-

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1990.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 352 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

In The American Indian in Western Legal Thought Robert Williams, a legal scholar and Native American of the Lumbee tribe, traces the evolution of contemporary legal thought on the rights and status of American Indians and other indiginous tribal peoples. Beginning with an analysis of the medieval Christian crusading era and its substantive contributions to the West's legal discourse of h̀eathens' and ìnfidels', this study explores the development of the ideas that justified the New World conquests of Spain, England and the United States. Williams shows that long-held notions of the legality of European subjugation and colonization of s̀avage' and b̀arbarian' societies supported the conquests in America. Today, he demonstrates, echoes of racist and Eurocentric prejudices still reverberate in the doctrines and principles of legal discourse regarding native peoples' rights in the United States and in other nations as well.--

Subjects

• Sources
• History
• Racism > United States > History > Sources
• Indians of North America > Politics and government > History > Sources
• Indians of North America > Government relations > Sources
• Indians of North America > Legal status, laws, etc > History > Sources

Genre/Form

• History
• Sources
• History.
• Sources.

Note

• Includes index.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-341).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Medieval and Renaissance Origins of the Status of the American Indian in Western Legal Thought -- The Medieval Discourse of Crusade -- Truth: Papal Discourse -- The Church Universal -- Reform Discourse -- Civilian Discourse -- Power: Crusading Discourse -- Holy War -- Urban's Spanish Crusade -- The First Call to Crusade -- The Instruments of Crusade -- Knowledge: Humanist Discourse -- Secular Humanism -- Innocent's Synthesis -- The Perfect Instrument of Empire: The Colonizing Discourse of Renaissance Spain -- The Lithuanian Controversy -- The Intra-European Crusade of the Teutonic Knights -- The Constance Debates on the Rights of Infidels -- The Iberian Crusades in Africa -- The Portuguese Appeal to Conquer and Convert the Canary Islands -- The Papal Response: Romanus Pontifex -- The Spanish Bulls -- The New World's First Entrepreneurs -- The Discovery Era's First Contract for the Conquest of the New World -- Instruments of Empire -- Governor Columbus -- The Encomienda -- The Dominicans in the New World -- The Laws of Burgos -- The Requerimiento -- Victoria's "On the Indians Lately Discovered" -- The Inquisitions into Indian Capacity -- Franciscus de Victoria -- Victoria's Lecture -- A Guardianship over the Indians -- Protestant Discourses -- The Protestant Translation of Medieval and Renaissance Discourses on the Rights and Status of American Indians -- The English Reformation -- The Reformation's Transformation of English Society -- A Prefatory Colonizing Discourse -- The Elizabethan Restoration -- Laissez-Faire Discourse.

ISBN

• 0195050223 (alk. paper)
• 0195080025 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^88037260^

OCLC

• 18948630
• SCSB-9935003

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library