The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Round house is a novel first published in 2012 by an American writer Louise Erdrich. Louise Erdrich, in this new novel, merges both the old and the new. The Round House by Erdrich revolve around the Chippewa family living in North Dakota. Some characters used in the Round House by Erdrich had been used in previous works of Erdrich, but in this novel, Erdrich breaks new ground by taking a more political tone. The US vs forty Gallons of Whiskey case is used by Erdrich to highlight legal difficulties faced by the Chippewa family due to laws and policies created by the United States government.
The US vs. forty Gallons of Whiskey is one of the cases mentioned in the Round House novel, and it is dated back to 1883. In the US vs. forty Gallons of Whiskey case, the lawsuit was filed by Lariviere. In 1872, Lariviere had taken unlicensed barrels of whiskey to the Indian village of Minnesota to trade with native Americans (Knapp, 2018, 555). The barrels were seized by the federal government, and Lariviere was angered. Lariviere had the assumption that the Indian village belonged to the Chippewa family, and the United States government had no jurisdiction over the Indian land. Lariviere wrote to the court that the United States government had no power to seize the barrels of whiskey that were being traded outside the United States territory. The lower courts agreed with Lariviere, but the supreme court of the United States disagreed by the Lariviere assumption. In the ruling of the case, Justice Davis observed the Treaty of Old Crossing, which allowed the legislation passed by the congress to be applied in the state of Minnesota. The United States supreme court ruled that the seizing of the barrels of whiskey was legal because the congress had the power to regulate the trading activities taking place in the lands near the native American tribes.
Erdrich in the Round House novel uses the case of the US vs. forty Gallons of whiskey to imply the legal difficulties faced by the Native Americans (Bender, 2018, 142). The case indicates the slow movement of the United States legal process. The lower courts had initially agreed with Lariviere arguments. The United States government appealed the ruling by the lower courts, and the case was taken to the supreme court. The supreme court disagreed with the lower courts, and the case was taken back again to the lower courts for the ruling. Therefore, by using this case, Erdrich indicates how the United States legal process of 1883 was slow. The lawsuit by Lariviere had uncertainty on whether the matter was the legal jurisdiction of the Indian local police or the federal government. Therefore, by using the case of the US vs. forty Gallons of Whiskey, Erdrich in her novel reiterates a long argument that Indians have repeatedly been the victims of the federal law.
In conclusion, The Round House is a novel by Louise Erdrich, which was published in 2012. In the novel, Erdrich revolves around the Chippewa family. The Round House merges both the old and the new. In the Round House, the author takes a more political tone. According to the US vs. forty Gallons of whiskey case, congress has the power to regulate all the trade activities taking place in the lands near the Native American tribes. Erdrich used this case in her novel to show the slow process of the United States legal system. Also, Erdrich used the case of the US vs forty Gallons of Whiskey in the novel to imply the legal difficulties faced by the Indians due to laws and policies created by the United States government.
Works Cited
Bender, Jacob, and Lydia Maunz-Breese. “Louise Erdrich’s The Round House, the Wiindigoo, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.” American Indian Quarterly 42.2 (2018): 141-161.
Knapp, Aaron T. “From Empire to Law: Customs Collection in the American Founding.” Law & Social Inquiry 43.2 (2018): 554-584.