Robert J. Miller – författare

This book presents new material and shines fresh light on the under-explored historical and legal evidence about the use of the doctrine of discovery in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.North America, New Zealand and Australia were colonised by England under an international legal principle that is known today as the doctrine of discovery. When Europeans set out to explore and exploit new lands in the fifteenth through to the twentieth centuries, they justified their sovereign and property claims over these territories and the indigenous peoples with the discovery doctrine. This legal principle was justified by religious and ethnocentric ideas of European and Christian superiority over the other cultures, religions, and races of the world. The doctrine provided that newly-arrived Europeans automatically acquired property rights in the lands of indigenous peoples and gained political and commercial rights over the inhabitants. The English colonial governments and colonists in North America, New Zealand and Australia all utilised this doctrine, and still use it today to assert legal rights to indigenous lands and to assert control over indigenous peoples. Written by indigenous legal academics - an American Indian from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, a New Zealand Maori (Ngati Rawkawa and Ngai Te Rangi), an Indigenous Australian, and a Cree (Neheyiwak) in the country now known as Canada, Discovering Indigenous Lands provides a unique insight into the insidious historical and contemporary application of the doctrine of discovery.

This book presents new material and shines fresh light on the under-explored historical and legal evidence about the use of the doctrine of discovery in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. North America, New Zealand, and Australia were colonised by England under an international legal principle that is known today as the doctrine of discovery. When Europeans set out to explore and exploit new lands in the fifteenth through to the twentieth centuries, they justified their sovereign and property claims over these territories and the Indigenous peoples with the discovery doctrine. This legal principle was justified by religious and ethnocentric ideas of European and Christian superiority over the other cultures, religions, and races of the world. The doctrine provided that newly-arrived Europeans automatically acquired property rights in the lands of Indigenous peoples and gained political and commercial rights over the inhabitants. The English colonial governments and colonists in North America, New Zealand, and Australia all utilised this doctrine, and still use it today to assert legal rights to Indigenous lands and to assert control over Indigenous peoples. Written by Indigenous legal academics - an American Indian from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, a New Zealand Maori (Ngati Rawkawa and Ngati Ranginui), an Aboriginal Australian (Eualayai/Gammilaroi), and a Cree (Neheyiwak) in the country now known as Canada - Discovering Indigenous Lands provides a unique insight into the insidious historical and contemporary application of the doctrine of discovery.

Faith of the Fathers provides a captivating collective biography of the Catholic priests who served in America's most deadly war.Faith of the Fathers brings to light the forgotten stories of courageous chaplains whose commitments to faith and to men at war during America's most divisive conflict have long been overlooked. The Reverend Robert J. Miller provides a comprehensive and compelling portrait of the 126 priest-chaplains who served during the Civil War and reflects on the importance of religion and faith in nineteenth-century America. As a culture of death and horror raged around them, Catholic priest-chaplains met the needs of soldiers and officers alike, providing years of faithful and dedicated service in hospitals, prisons, battlefields, and camps.Whether ministering to Union or Confederate soldiers (or both), in eastern or western theaters, in battle or camp, these priests risked their lives to bring faith and hope to one of the darkest and most devastating periods of American history.

Manifest Destiny, as a term for westward expansion, was not used until the 1840s. Its predecessor was the Doctrine of Discovery, a legal tradition by which Europeans and Americans laid legal claim to the land of the indigenous people that they discovered. In the United States, the British colonists who had recently become Americans were competing with the English, French, and Spanish for control of lands west of the Mississippi. Who would be the discoverers of the Indians and their lands, the United States or the European countries? We know the answer, of course, but in this book, Miller explains for the first time exactly how the United States achieved victory, not only on the ground, but also in the developing legal thought of the day.The American effort began with Thomas Jefferson's authorization of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which set out in 1803 to lay claim to the West. Lewis and Clark had several charges, among them the discovery of a Northwest Passage—a land route across the continent—in order to establish an American fur trade with China. In addition, the Corps of Northwestern Discovery, as the expedition was called, cataloged new plant and animal life, and performed detailed ethnographic research on the Indians they encountered. This fascinating book lays out how that ethnographic research became the legal basis for Indian removal practices implemented decades later, explaining how the Doctrine of Discovery became part of American law, as it still is today.

Both Prayed to the Same God is the first book-length, comprehensive study of religion in the Civil War. While much research has focused on religion in a specific context of the civil war, this book provides a needed overview of this vital yet largely forgotten subject of American History. Writing passionately about the subject, Father Robert Miller presents this history in an accessible but scholarly fashion. Beginning with the religious undertones in the lead up to the war and concluding with consequences on religion in the aftermath, Father Miller not only shows us a forgotten aspect of history, but how our current historical situation is not unprecedented.

Native America, Discovered and Conquered takes a fresh look at American history through the lens of the Doctrine of Discovery—the legal basis that Europeans and Americans used to lay claim to the land of the indigenous peoples they "discovered." Robert J. Miller illustrates how the American colonies used the Doctrine of Discovery against the Indian nations from 1606 forward. Thomas Jefferson used the doctrine to exert American authority in the Louisiana Territory, to win the Pacific Northwest from European rivals, and to "conquer" the Indian nations. In the broader sense, these efforts began with the Founding Fathers and with Thomas Jefferson's Corps of Discovery, and eventually the Doctrine of Discovery became part of American law, as it still is today.  Miller shows how Manifest Destiny grew directly out of the legal elements and policies of the Doctrine of Discovery and how Native peoples, whose rights stood in the way of this destiny, were "discovered" and then "conquered." Miller's analysis of the principles of discovery brings a new perspective and valuable insights to the study of Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, the Louisiana Purchase, the Pacific Northwest, American expansionism, and U.S. Indian policy. This Bison Books edition includes a new afterword by the author.

“At the end of the Trail of Tears there was a promise,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the decision issued on July 9, 2020, in the case of McGirt v. Oklahoma. And that promise, made in treaties between the United States and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation more than 150 years earlier, would finally be kept. With the Court’s ruling, the full extent of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation was reaffirmed—meaning that 3.25 million acres of land in Oklahoma, including part of the city of Tulsa, were recognized once again as “Indian Country” as defined by federal law. A Promise Kept explores the circumstances and implications of McGirt v. Oklahoma, likely the most significant Indian law case in well over 100 years. Combining legal analysis and historical context, this book gives an in-depth, accessible account of how the case unfolded and what it might mean for Oklahomans, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and other tribes throughout the United States.For context, Robbie Ethridge traces the long history of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation from its inception in present-day Georgia and Alabama in the seventeenth century; through the tribe’s rise to regional prominence in the colonial era, the tumultuous years of Indian Removal, and the Civil War and allotment; and into its resurgence in Oklahoma in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Against this historical background, Robert J. Miller considers McGirt v. Oklahoma, examining important related cases, precedents that informed the Court’s decision, and future ramifications—legal, civil, regulatory, and practical—for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, federal Indian law, the United States, the state of Oklahoma, and Indian nations in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Their work clarifies the stakes of a decision that, while long overdue, raises numerous complex issues profoundly affecting federal, state, and tribal relations and law—and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

“At the end of the Trail of Tears there was a promise,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the decision issued on July 9, 2020, in the case of McGirt v. Oklahoma. And that promise, made in treaties between the United States and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation more than 150 years earlier, would finally be kept. With the Court’s ruling, the full extent of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation was reaffirmed—meaning that 3.25 million acres of land in Oklahoma, including part of the city of Tulsa, were recognized once again as “Indian Country” as defined by federal law. A Promise Kept explores the circumstances and implications of McGirt v. Oklahoma, likely the most significant Indian law case in well over 100 years. Combining legal analysis and historical context, this book gives an in-depth, accessible account of how the case unfolded and what it might mean for Oklahomans, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and other tribes throughout the United States.For context, Robbie Ethridge traces the long history of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation from its inception in present-day Georgia and Alabama in the seventeenth century; through the tribe’s rise to regional prominence in the colonial era, the tumultuous years of Indian Removal, and the Civil War and allotment; and into its resurgence in Oklahoma in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Against this historical background, Robert J. Miller considers McGirt v. Oklahoma, examining important related cases, precedents that informed the Court’s decision, and future ramifications—legal, civil, regulatory, and practical—for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, federal Indian law, the United States, the state of Oklahoma, and Indian nations in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Their work clarifies the stakes of a decision that, while long overdue, raises numerous complex issues profoundly affecting federal, state, and tribal relations and law—and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Native nation economies have long been dominated by public sector activities - government programs and services and tribal government-owned businesses - which do not generate the same long-term benefits for local communities that the private sector does. In this work, editors Robert Miller, Miriam Jorgensen, Daniel Stewart, and a roster of expert authors address the underdevelopment of the private sector on American Indian reservations, with the goal of sustaining and growing Native nation communities, so that Indian Country can thrive on its own terms. Chapter authors provide the language and arguments to make the case to tribal politicians, Native communities, and allies about the importance of private sector development and entrepreneurship in Indigenous economies. This book identifies and addresses key barriers to expanding the sector, provides policy guidance, and describes several successful business models - thus offering students, practitioners, and policymakers the information they need to make change.

Native nation economies have long been dominated by public sector activities - government programs and services and tribal government-owned businesses - which do not generate the same long-term benefits for local communities that the private sector does. In this work, editors Robert Miller, Miriam Jorgensen, Daniel Stewart, and a roster of expert authors address the underdevelopment of the private sector on American Indian reservations, with the goal of sustaining and growing Native nation communities, so that Indian Country can thrive on its own terms. Chapter authors provide the language and arguments to make the case to tribal politicians, Native communities, and allies about the importance of private sector development and entrepreneurship in Indigenous economies. This book identifies and addresses key barriers to expanding the sector, provides policy guidance, and describes several successful business models - thus offering students, practitioners, and policymakers the information they need to make change.

Reservation Capitalism: Economic Development in Indian Country supplies the true history, present-day circumstances, and potential future of Native American communities and economics. In this new edition, Robert J. Miller, author of the first edition, teams with fellow Indigenous Peoples law and property expert Adam Crepelle to offer a meticulously edited and thoroughly updated text that addresses newly salient issues such as the fast-growing tribal cannabis industry, the significant developments within reservation-based Community Development Financial Institutions, and similarly significant developments with low-income tax credits. This edition also includes two new chapters on emerging opportunities in the clean energy sector and e-commerce, respectively. Ultimately, these additions shows how, after Covid-19, tribal communities are moving beyond their formerly vulnerable economies predicated almost exclusively on gaming foster sustainable economic development on reservations in order to improve standards of living and sustain their self-sufficiency and self-determination.

Reservation Capitalism: Economic Development in Indian Country supplies the true history, present-day circumstances, and potential future of Native American communities and economics. In this new edition, Robert J. Miller, author of the first edition, teams with fellow Indigenous Peoples law and property expert Adam Crepelle to offer a meticulously edited and thoroughly updated text that addresses newly salient issues such as the fast-growing tribal cannabis industry, the significant developments within reservation-based Community Development Financial Institutions, and similarly significant developments with low-income tax credits. This edition also includes two new chapters on emerging opportunities in the clean energy sector and e-commerce, respectively. Ultimately, these additions shows how, after Covid-19, tribal communities are moving beyond their formerly vulnerable economies predicated almost exclusively on gaming foster sustainable economic development on reservations in order to improve standards of living and sustain their self-sufficiency and self-determination.