Civil Rights Argumentative Analysis

The struggle and persistence for identity and sovereignty by the Seminoles from the 1820s to the 1850s served as an early example of the evolutionary process by way of legal channels and treaty language and negotiation to attain them. Their defiance against removal and Creek integration emerged during an era that defined Native American sovereign status and nationhood in relation to American constitutional interpretation. Their struggle was an early example of a civil rights movement that took place within the constraints of three Supreme Court decisions and six federal treaties. These treaties would help shape their relationship with the federal government and other Native tribes. Representation through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and as defined through the Supreme Court decisions, was a federal obligation (or rationalization) to protect their lands, grant them the ability to self-govern, and provide the means for their survival and advancement. Although achieving federal recognition as a Nation did not arrive until 1856, the early treaties, especially the Capitulation of 1836, …show more content…
These treaties are considered to be an integral part of “the supreme law of the land,” and they are the foundation upon which federal Indian law and trust relationship with the federal government are based today. According to Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution the federal government vested itself with the authority to negotiate and establish relations with the Indian Nations. Inherent in the trust relationship between the federal government and the Indians was the implied belief that Indians could not handle their own affairs. While these treaties were among the earliest documents contributing to the erosion of Indian sovereignty, they helped create a Seminole identity that led to the recognition as a new nation, and separate from Creek