# Johnson v. McIntosh *1823 U.S. Supreme Court decision on taking title to land from Indian nations.* *Johnson v. McIntosh* is an 1823 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.[^1] In the Minnesota record, the decision bears on the land grant claimed under [[Jonathan Carver]], known as [[Carver's Grant]]. Carver is the namesake of Carver County, [[Minnesota]].[^2][^3] The project's at-issue record states that the decision "held that private parties cannot take title directly from Indian nations."[^1] By that account, the doctrine that voided the deed bearing the county's namesake is also the doctrine that validated every other land title in the county.[^1][^3] The sources disagree on when the Carver claim ended. Sara Falch's 2008 University of Wisconsin thesis reports that the Committee on Private Land Claims dissolved the case in 1825. The at-issue record states instead that the 1823 decision killed the claim "the same year Congress did."[^3][^1] ## What The at-issue record describes the ruling's effect on Minnesota land as running in two directions. The rule that a private party cannot take title directly from an Indian nation defeated the private Carver deed. The same rule confirmed the titles that passed through the sovereign's own acquisition.[^1] Russell W. Fridley treated the Carver grant together with the 1823 decision in a Winter 1954 article in *Minnesota History* (vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 154–159).[^1] The Wisconsin Historical Society also maintains an account of the grant.[^2] Falch's thesis traces the later course of the claim. It covers the campaign by Rev. Samuel Andrew Peters to have the grant ratified. It reports that the Committee on Private Land Claims dissolved the case in 1825.[^3] ## When - **1823:** The Supreme Court decides *Johnson v. McIntosh*.[^1] - **1825:** The Committee on Private Land Claims dissolves the Carver land grant case, according to Falch.[^3] The at-issue record places the end of the claim in 1823.[^1] - **Winter 1954:** Fridley's article on the Carver grant and the decision appears in *Minnesota History*.[^1] - **2008:** Falch's thesis on the Carver Land Grant Case of 1825 is issued at the University of Wisconsin.[^3] ## In the at-issue record - **Package: Carver.** Pair AI-Carver-027 is ranked 27 and sits in Block B, *The Founding Document* (Pairs 23–40). It is dated 1823 and tagged as a doctrine that cuts both ways. It rests on two record sources, Fridley's 1954 article and Falch's 2008 thesis.[^1][^3] The pair states that the decision "held that private parties cannot take title directly from Indian nations." It also states that a single ruling voided the private Carver deed and confirmed the sovereign's acquisition of the other titles in the county.[^1] On the date of the claim's end, it differs from Falch's 1825 figure.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Russell W. Fridley, *Minnesota History*, vol. 34 no. 4 (Winter 1954), pp. 154–159 — the Carver grant and the 1823 Supreme Court decision in *Johnson v. McIntosh*; record source of at-issue pair AI-Carver-027. https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/34/v34i04p154-159.pdf [^2]: Wisconsin Historical Society, *Carver's Grant* (undated) — account of the land grant claimed under Jonathan Carver. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1987 [^3]: Sara Falch, *Jonathan Carver's Footprints: The Carver Land Grant Case of 1825 and the Impact of American Indian Policy*, University of Wisconsin (2008) — Rev. Samuel Andrew Peters' ratification campaign; the Committee on Private Land Claims dissolved the case in 1825; record source of at-issue pair AI-Carver-027. https://minds.wisc.edu/items/85cdd932-f6ff-4345-a0a3-19f0d9ee14e1/full