Description
The Oneida Land Claims: A Legal History is written by George C Shattuck, a tax lawyer, offers his account of the Oneida Nation's legal battle from 1965-1977 over their New York state lands that were illegally sold or seized. Shattuck's case on behalf of the Oneida Nation argued that New York had violated treaties signed in 1784, 1789, and 1794, in addition to other federal laws. The Oneidas were in a no-win situation as both the state and federal authorities continued to ignore the legality of the Oneida suit. A test case was filed in federal court in 1970. This 81-page memoir provides a first-hand account of the initial meeting between the Oneida Nations of New York, Wisconsin, and the Thames with their legal advisors, as well as details the author's legal efforts to pursue the law suit before the U.S. Supreme Court. The author has included 8 appendices as well as an index, and a map of Oneida Nation territory in the book. The appendices include the Oneida Nation Petition to the Constitutional Convention of New York, June 1967; the Oneida Nation petition to the President of the USA in 1968; the Oneida Supreme Court Brief, 1973; the Oneida Nation v. Oneida and Madison Counties Supreme Court Decisions of 1974; and the counter suit by Oneida and Madison Counties again the Oneida Nation in 1985. Historians Jack Campisi and Laurence Hauptman provide brief accounts of the Oneida Nation in their foreword and introduction respectively.