21 Pages Posted: 17 Nov 2015

Date Written: May 14, 2015

Abstract

The Doctrine of Discovery is the modern name for the international law principle that European nations developed and then used to claim most of the non-European world. The Doctrine was applied in North America by England, France, Spain, Holland, and Russia. The United States adopted this legal principle and applied it to the Indian Nations. This book chapter explains the elements, or factors, that make up this international law and argues that the Doctrine of Discovery became American Manifest Destiny and was used, and is still being used today, to justify the removal of Indian Nations and peoples, and their subjugation by the United States.