United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886), is a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the Constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. Kagama, a Yurok Native American (Indian) accused of murder, was selected as a test case by the Department of Justice to test the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885, which was passed as a rider to an appropriations bill. This Congressional Act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain cases of Indian on Indian crimes, even if the crimes were committed on an Indian Reservation. The importance of the ruling in this case was that it upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885 and confirmed Congress’ plenary power over Indian affairs. Plenary power over Indian tribes, supposedly granted to the U.S. Congress by the Commerce Clause of the Constitution was not necessary to support by the Supreme Court in this decision; instead, the Court found the power in the tribes status as dependent domestic nations. This allowed Congress to pass the Dawes Act the following year.
Read more about United States V. Kagama: See Also, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united and/or states:
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“... it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the United States would have enfranchised its women en masse; and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“... there is a place in the United States for the Negro. They are real American citizens, and at home. They have fought and bled and died, like men, to make this country what it is. And if they have got to suffer and die, and be lynched, and tortured, and burned at the stake, I say they are at home.”
—Amanda Berry Smith (1837–1915)