An Introduction to Native American Sovereignty and Treaties in the United States
[This article and several following ones were written by Native people. Many thanks to Alison Ehara-Brown, the editor of Heritage (the RC journal about Native liberation), for collecting these articles, doing the initial editing, providing many of the photos, and helping to design the layout. Thanks also to Nola Hadley Torres for her help with the articles about the Cherokee people. And thanks to Han Ceti Win and Sky Yarbrough for the photos they contributed.]
Native and Indigenous people around the world were organized as sovereign nations long before colonization impacted our lands and people. Many Native American and Indigenous tribes around the world continue to operate as sovereign nations today. The following focuses on Native American tribal sovereignty in the United States.
Wikipedia defines sovereignty as international law which defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, a government not under another government, and the capacity to interact with other sovereign states. It is also commonly understood that a sovereign nation or sovereign state is independent.
When Europeans arrived in what is now known as the United States, they found and recognized Native American tribes as sovereign nations. Highly developed tribal communities were functioning independently of each other and had all of the elements that make up a sovereign nation.
Native American tribal sovereignty includes, but is not limited to, the ability to:
— Establish the tribe’s own form of government;
— Set processes to determine membership requirements (commonly known as tribal membership or enrollment);
— Enact legislation and establish law enforcement and legal and court systems; and
— Enter into nation-to-nation agreements.
The primary goal the European colonists had in making nation-to-nation agreements with Native American tribal nations was to break away from Great Britain and to become recognized as their own sovereign nation. The United States government entered into more than 650 Indian treaties. Today there are 575 Native American tribes that are recognized by the federal government. The United States Constitution states that treaties are “the supreme law of the land” and can only be made nation-to-nation.
It is important to note that treaties were not a granting of rights to Native Americans by the U.S. government. Rather treaties were agreements between Native American tribes to relinquish large areas of land to the United States in exchange for land set aside for their tribe (reservations), and an agreement to peace between both parties. Most treaties also promised services, such as education, health, clothing, food, blacksmith, farrier, and agricultural supplies. The U.S. federal funds dedicated to education and health care for tribes are part of treaty agreements made, although all tribal services are severely underfunded.
The U.S. government has repealed, modified, violated, or breached provisions of almost all of the Indian treaties. Most reservations, after having been established, have been further reduced in size.
Treaty agreements were ended by the U.S. government with the Indian Appropriation Act on March 3, 1871: “Hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty.” From this date no more treaty agreements were made.
Much more can be said about the issue of Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty. Another article will appear in a later Present Time. For now, the above can serve as a brief introduction.
(Present Time 214, January 2024)