Justitia - Virtual Field Trips, Justice Ransom and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

Schedule a Virtual Field Trip

The Learning Center offers individualized gallery tours, as well as two in-depth webinar experiences for elementary.

Next Webinars - November 18

• Michigan's Judicial Branch: Powers and Role, 10 a.m. | Register
• Symbols of the Judicial Branch: Reflecting Constitutional Principles and Democratic Values, 1 p.m. | Register
  

Additional dates and more information are found at Virtual Field Trips.

Gallery Tours - Select Week Days

Hosted from the Learning Center gallery, virtual tours include audio/video interaction with staff. E-mail feinauera@courts.mi.gov or call 517-373-7171 to request a reservation.

Justice Ransom and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

In the 1830-1850s, tribes in Michigan faced an uncertain future as the hotly debated Indian Removal Act (1830) enabled the federal government to relocate them west of the Mississippi River. Some fled north. Others were removed from southern Michigan. Still others fought successfully to stay.

Take, for example, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. Leopold Pokagon and other tribal leaders worked many years to avoid relocation. This included religious affiliation, a treaty agreement, and the purchase of land near Dowagiac. Still, in 1840 the federal government ordered U.S. Army General Hugh Brady to remove all Potawatomi from the state.

In response, Pokagon and other leaders requested assistance from Epaphroditus Ransom, an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court who also served as a circuit court judge for southwest Michigan. Justice Ransom agreed the Treaty of Chicago (1833) ensured the band's right to stay. He told General Brady that if Pokagon's people were forcibly removed from Michigan, he would order the federal government to bring them back. This argument apparently convinced Brady and his superiors to stop their pursuit.

Today, the Pokagon Band's tribal government remains headquartered on tribal lands in Dowagiac. 

For More Details

History - Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

Leopold Pokagon - WUOM Stateside

Michigan has 12 federally recognized tribes  with inherent sovereignty, the right to self-govern. Each of these tribal governments follows a written constitution, and each has a tribal court that interprets and applies laws in its jurisdiction. 

Read more in Best of Justitia - Tribal Courts (PDF).

Justice Epaphroditus Ransom, courtesy Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society