History professor examines state and territorial policies that
affected early American Indian citizenship Deborah Rosen,
professor and head of history, has taken an in-depth look at
early American Indian policy-making in her most recent book,
American Indians and State Law: Sovereignty, Race and
Citizenship, 1790 – 1880 (University of Nebraska, December
2007). The publication examines the role that state and
territorial governments played in extending jurisdiction over
Indians as well as defining borders and the meaning of
citizenship. “Belying the common assumption that Indian policy
and regulation in the United States were exclusively within the
federal government’s domain, the book reveals how states and
territories extended their legislative and judicial authority
over American Indians between the early national period and the
Reconstruction era,” explains Rosen. “In this book, I detail how
state and territorial governments regulated American Indians and
brought them into local criminal courts, as well as