The law-of-nations origins of the Marshall trilogy

Federal Indian law is sometimes seen as a purely domestic part of American law, but its origins are in the law of nations. The Marshall Trilogy-'Johnson v. M'Intosh', 'Cherokee Nation v. Georgia', and 'Worcester v. Georgia', three Supreme Court decisions authored by Chief Justice Marshall that are foundational for American federal Indian law-relied on law-of-nations sources. In particular, The Law of Nations, an eighteenth-century treatise by Emer de Vattel, provided a central influence on Marshall's opinion in 'Worcester'. In early national American legal thought, Vattel was a leading authority on the law governing the rights and obligations subsisting among nations. Recognizing the important role that the law of nations played in the foundations of federal Indian law underscores the deep roots of tribal sovereignty in American law and clarifies current doctrinal disputes.