Self-study
P1
Some Native American tribes have had difficulty establishing their land claims because the United States government did not recognize their status as tribes; therefore during the 1970s some Native Americans attempted to obtain such recognition through the medium of U.S. courts. ███
Intro topic ·
NA tribes tried to make claims to land through U.S. courts
Problem ·
Process of NA lawsuits showed conflict that can exist between cultures with different systems of discourse
P2
██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████████████████████████ █ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███
Example ·
Mashpee brought lawsuit to recover their land
Non-Mashpee purchased the land in violation of a statute requiring federal approval of sales of NA-land to non-NA people.
Status as "tribe" ·
Mashpee had to show they were tribe to get protection of statute
Tribe was defined as a group of Native Americans "governing themselves under one leadership and inhabiting a particular territory."
P3
███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████████ ██ ████ █ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ███
Requirement of written documentation ·
Mashpee couldn't show that they met definition of tribe, because they didn't have written documentation
Mashpee were an oral culture, so didn't have deeds or writings and delineated the boundaries of Mashpee land.
Recent changes for better ·
Similar land claims have been more successful recently
Courts acknowledge that different discourses between cultures can lead to unfair legal results.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Land claim suits ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███████
Too narrow. The Mashpee’s failure in court due to lack of written documentation just supports the author’s main point.
b
Land claim suits ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t suggest that courts have the wrong definition of “tribe.” Rather, the Mashpee had a hard time showing that they’re a tribe because of different systems of discourse between Native American cultures and U.S. legal culture.
c
Land claim suits ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████
The author introduces this point
d
Land claim suits ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ███████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t suggest any difference or discrepancy between “recognized” evidence and “accepted” evidence.
e
Land claim suits ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████ ██████ █ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████████
Too narrow. The source of the problem, and the author’s main point, isn’t that application of precedent is a problem. Rather, application of precedent (and legal methodology more broadly) is what brought the problem to light: Native American cultures and U.S. legal culture have different systems of discourse.