Christian Doctrine of Discovery: A North American History

The doctrine of discovery is the legal principle that facilitated and continues to facilitate colonization. It is a legal construct that began with a series of papal bulls, evolved alongside colonial history, was encoded i n the judiciary of settler nations, and continues to influence legal and policy decisions today. It encoded a cultural logic that provided the intellectual framework that dictated how non-Natives interacted with First Nations. This became the basis of international law and effectively legalized colonization. While it evolved from a set of papal bulls, it was further encoded in a set of Supreme Court decisions in the United States and was applied across North America either as a legal precedent, as was the case in the United States, or as an underlying unstated ideology, as was the case in Canada. The doctrine encoded racial ideas that created a hierarchy within humanities that invariably placed European, Christian nations in the position of power. Having aid this, European powers revised and restated the doctrine of discovery according to the cultural realities of the day. This literature review will show the life of the doctrine of discovery from its origins to the present day. This review will provide historical perspective for the synodical task force on the doctrine of discovery to be conducted by the Christian Reformed Church in North America.