About This Module
Lithograph of John Ross from 1845, Tennessee Museum Collection Collection 80.156.2
This module offers a chance to explore how contests over sovereignty contributed to the construction of authoritarianism in the deportation of Native nations in the United States.
Professor Gregory Ablavsky focuses on the mass deportation of Native nations in the early nineteenth century euphemized at the time as “Indian Removal.” He argues that the deportations are among the earliest examples of authoritarianism in U.S. history. The module source is a 1824 exchange of letters between agents of the American state and leaders of the Cherokee Nation that capture the struggles over authority that ultimately culminated in the deportation of the Cherokee Nation known as the Trail of Tears. The teaching plan shows students how the letters depict a complicated struggle among competing sovereigns in the U.S. South. It also offers a layered set of discussion questions that enable students to probe the perspectives of Native peoples, and the nature of the existential crisis they faced. Ablavsky ultimately asks students to think about how these letters complicate historical understandings of authoritarianism that are more commonly focused on twentieth century totalitarian regimes. As part of Authoritarianism 101, this module enables teachers to explore the themes of authoritarian practice and how Native actors challenged authoritarianism repression.
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Contributor
Gregory Ablavsky
Gregory Ablavsky is the Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and professor of history by courtesy at Stanford University. He is the author of Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories as well as numerous articles in law reviews and history journals.
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