HOW THE PAPAL BULLS AFFECTED US

From Papal Bulls to Federal Plenary Power Slavery 

The origins of U.S. federal Indian policy lie in a series of fifteenth-century papal bulls—such as Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455), and Inter Caetera (1493). These decrees authorized Christian monarchs to invade, conquer, and claim the lands of non-Christian peoples, reducing them to perpetual subjugation. This theological and legal framework became known as the Doctrine of Discovery.When European empires crossed the ocean, they carried this doctrine to the Americas. Native nations were deemed “heathens” and their lands “vacant” (terra nullius), despite being fully occupied and governed. This framework of domination was later adopted by the United States Supreme Court in the Marshall Trilogy:

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• Johnson v. M’Intosh (1823) held that Indigenous nations could not hold full legal title to their lands because “discovery” by Christian powers transferred ultimate ownership to the federal government.

• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) labeled Native nations “domestic dependent nations,” placing them in a ward-guardian relationship with the United States.

• Worcester v. Georgia (1832) reaffirmed U.S. supremacy over Native lands, while admitting limited tribal autonomy.

 

From these rulings, the U.S. fashioned the doctrine of plenary power—the idea that Congress holds absolute authority over Indigenous nations. This “legal fiction” effectively enslaves Native sovereignty by converting sacred treaties into bureaucratic permissions and denying Indigenous nations the right to exercise full jurisdiction over their lands, governance, and future. The papal bulls thus live on in U.S. law: what began as a Christian mandate of conquest evolved into a federal policy of domination. Today, plenary power remains the cornerstone of federal Indian law, allowing Congress to unilaterally abrogate treaties, dissolve lands, and override tribal authority. Peta Omniciye, Inc. recognizes this chain of domination and calls for its dismantling—through the rejection of colonial doctrines, affirmation of inherent Indigenous sovereignty, and insistence on true Nation-to-Nation relations.  We will be working on a campaign to abolish this doctrine.