Stage 7: Today | Unit 13

STEP 1

The Legal Thread From 1830 to Now

The Removal Era did not end in 1850. The legal arguments Tribal nations made in the 1830s, the sovereignty claims they asserted before the Supreme Court, and the land they were removed from are all still active in federal courts and Tribal governments right now.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt v. Oklahoma that much of eastern Oklahoma remains Muscogee (Creek) Reservation land. The majority opinion cited the same treaty-rights and sovereignty arguments the Muscogee Nation has been making since before removal. That is nearly two centuries of legal continuity. The Today section of your site makes that thread visible to the reader.

Why This Section Completes the Site

A research website about the Removal Era that ends in 1850 tells its reader that this history is finished. Your Today section corrects that. It shows that the legal and political questions at the center of removal policy were never resolved: they were deferred, litigated, and are still being decided. That is the most important argument your site makes.

STEP 2

New CSS: The Then / Now Split Card

The Today cards use a two-column layout inside each card: a "Then" column on the left with the historical event, and a "Now" column on the right with its present-day continuation. A thin vertical divider separates them. This is a common pattern in journalism and long-form editorial design when showing historical parallels.

// Three-column grid: content | divider | content .today-split {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 1fr 1px 1fr;
}
.split-divider { background: var(--gold-border); }
.then-col { padding-right: 28px; }
.now-col { padding-left: 28px; }

grid-template-columns: 1fr 1px 1fr: the middle column is literally 1 pixel wide. It holds the .split-divider div, which gets a background color. This creates a clean vertical line without using borders or pseudo-elements.
padding-right: 28px / padding-left: 28px: the padding creates breathing room on either side of the divider so the text does not butt up against it.

// Column labels: Then vs. Now .split-label { font-size: 0.6875rem; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.14em; text-transform: uppercase; }
.then-col .split-label { color: var(--text-muted); }
.now-col .split-label { color: var(--gold); }

The "Then" label uses --text-muted, a dimmer gray, to visually recede. The "Now" label uses --gold to draw the reader's eye to the present-day column. The typography signals which column is the punchline.

STEP 3

Read the Two Pre-Built Cards

Scroll to the Today section in the Live Preview. Read both Then / Now cards. Both show how a specific moment from the Removal Era has a direct legal or political continuation in the present.

Card 1: Worcester to McGirt (Legal Continuity)

Then (1832): Worcester v. Georgia established that Tribal nations hold inherent sovereignty and that state laws have no force inside Tribal territory. Jackson refused to enforce the ruling and the Trail of Tears followed anyway. But the legal principle survived in federal Indian law.

Now (2020): In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court cited the same sovereignty principle to rule that much of eastern Oklahoma remains the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation. Justice Gorsuch wrote that Congress had never formally abolished the reservation, so it still exists. The 1832 argument won a 2020 case.

Card 2: Indian Removal Act to Land Back (Political Continuity)

Then (1830): The Indian Removal Act was the first federal law authorizing the forced transfer of Tribal land to the U.S. government and non-Indigenous settlers. The land taken during the Removal Era was never returned.

Now (ongoing): The Land Back movement, led by Indigenous activists and organizations across North America, calls for the return of Indigenous land to Tribal nations. The legal and moral arguments center on the same treaty violations and sovereignty claims that Tribal nations litigated in the 1830s. The question of who owns the land has not been settled.

STEP 4

Add Your Connection

Find the comment  in the editor. Add a third .today-card connecting one aspect of the Removal Era to something happening in federal Indian law, Tribal sovereignty, or Indigenous land rights today. It can be a legal case, a legislative fight, a land return, or a political development.

Follow the same pattern: a .today-card-title, then a .today-split div containing a .then-col, a .split-divider, and a .now-col. Each column needs a .split-label and a .split-text.

Where to Find a Connection

Some starting points: the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Haaland v. Brackeen case (2023); the Bears Ears National Monument and Tribal land management; treaty rights cases currently before federal courts; the ongoing Dakota Access Pipeline dispute and Standing Rock; or any specific federal Indian law development that connects to a Tribal nation you researched in this unit.

Look for a "then" moment in the 1830s-1860s that has a direct "now" continuation. The more specific the connection, the stronger the argument your card makes.

STEP 5

Write the Final Reflection

Below the today cards is the final writing prompt. Write 4 to 6 sentences answering this question: What does the Removal Era reveal about the relationship between the United States and Tribal nations? What from this research changed or deepened how you understand Tribal sovereignty today?

Unit 13 Complete

Your Removal Era website is done. You have built a multi-section research site with a hero, four contextual sections, an accordion, two card grid patterns, a bibliography, and a Then / Now historical analysis. Every design choice you made was deliberate, and every section carries documented, cited research.

The site you built is not a summary of what happened. It is an argument: that the Removal Era matters, that the nations affected by it have continuous histories, and that the legal and political questions at the center of that era are still being decided. That is what research web design can do that a five-paragraph essay cannot.