Acts of Congress Agreements Executive Orders
From 1774 until about 1832, treaties between individual sovereign American Indian nations and the U.S. were negotiated to establish borders and prescribe conditions of behavior between the parties.
The form of these agreements was nearly identical to the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War between the U.S. and Great Britain. The negotiations ended in a mutually signed pact which had to be approved by the U.S.Congress. Non-tribal citizens were required to have a passport to cross sovereign Indian lands.
From 1832 until 1871, American Indian nations were considered to be domestic, dependent tribes. Negotiated treaties between tribes and the U.S. had to be approved by the U.S. Congress.
In 1871, the House of Representatives ceased recognition of individual tribes within the U.S. as independent nations with whom the United States could contract by treaty, ending the nearly 100 year old practice of treaty-making between the U.S. and American Indian tribes
Between 1778, when the first treaty was made with the Delawares, to 1871, when Congress ended the treaty-making period, the United States Senate ratified 370 treaties. At least 45 others were negotiated with tribes but were never ratified by the Senate.
Congress ended treaty-making with Indian tribes in 1871. Since then, relations with Indian groups have been formalized and/or codified by Congressional acts, Executive Orders, and Executive Agreements.
The treaties that were made often contain commitments that have either been fulfilled or subsequently superseded by Congressional legislation.
In addition, American Indians and Alaska Natives can access education, health, welfare, and other social service programs available to all citizens, if they are eligible. Even if a tribe does not have a treaty with the United States, or has treaties that were negotiated but not ratified, its members may still receive services from the BIA or other federal programs, if eligible.
The relationship between federally recognized tribes and the United States is one between sovereigns, i.e., between a government and a government. This “government-to-government” principle, which is grounded in the United States Constitution, has helped to shape the long history of relations between the federal government and these tribal nations.
Because the Constitution vested the Legislative Branch with plenary power over Indian Affairs, states have no authority over tribal governments unless expressly authorized by Congress. While federally recognized tribes generally are not subordinate to states, they can have a government-to-government relationship with these other sovereigns, as well.
Federally recognized tribes possess both the right and the authority to regulate activities on their lands independently from state government control. They can enact and enforce stricter or more lenient laws and regulations than those of the surrounding or neighboring state(s) wherein they are located. Yet, tribes frequently collaborate and cooperate with states through compacts or other agreements on matters of mutual concern such as environmental protection and law enforcement.
Tribes possess all powers of self-government except those relinquished under treaty with the United States, those that Congress has expressly extinguished, and those that federal courts have ruled are subject to existing federal law or are inconsistent with overriding national policies. Tribes, therefore, possess the right to form their own governments; to make and enforce laws, both civil and criminal; to tax; to establish and determine membership (i.e., tribal citizenship); to license and regulate activities within their jurisdiction; to zone; and to exclude persons from tribal lands.
Limitations on inherent tribal powers of self-government are few, but do include the same limitations applicable to states, e.g., neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or print and issue currency.
Any “special” rights held by federally recognized tribes and their members are generally based on treaties or other agreements between the tribes and the United States. The heavy price American Indians and Alaska Natives paid to retain certain rights of self-government was to relinquish much of their land and resources to the United States. U.S. law protects the inherent rights they did not relinquish. Among those may be hunting and fishing rights and access to sacred sites.
As colonists and later the Americans, crowded into Native American lands in the Ohio Valley and beyond, large chunks of those lands were usurped from the natives. This story was typical of the many mistreatments foisted upon the Indians. The Fort Finney treaty of 1786 was a prelude to the war for Ohio.
These are the articles of agreement and list of signees for a treaty made at Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) on February 14, 1833 between representatives of the United States and the Western Cherokees (Cherokees west of the Mississippi River).
This treaty signed in the City of Washington on May 6, 1828 removed the Western Cherokee from the Territory of Arkansas to West of the Missississippi River. This is a copy of the full articles of that treaty, along with the list of signees. It also has clauses that pertain to the Choctaw and Creek Indians.
This is the full articles and list of signees of the February 27, 1819 Treaty with the Cherokee signed in the City of Washington, a corrected copy made March 1, 1819, and incorporating ammendments added at Cherokee Agency on January 6, 1817 and July 8, 1817.
This is the full text and list of signees of the treaty made between the United States and the Cherokee at the Cherokee Agency on July 8, 1817.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty made at the Chickasaw Council House on September 14, 1816 between the United States and the Cherokee Indians, which was ratified at Turkey Town October 4, 1816.
This the full text and list of signees of a treaty at Washington city on March 22, 1816, which was ratified on April 8, 1816.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty made in Washington city on March 22, 1816, which was ratified on April 8, 1816.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty made in the city of Washington between the United States and the Cherokee on January 7, 1806, which was ratified on May 22, 1807.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty at Tellico on October 27, 1805 between the United States and the Cherokee Indians.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty made between the United States and the Cherokee Indians at Tellico on October 25, 1805.
This is the full text and list of signees of a treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Indians signed at Tellico on October 24, 1804.
This treaty further clarified parts of the 1791 Treaty of Holston and 1794 Treaty of Philadelphia that had not previously been enforced between the United States and the Cherokee.
The 1794 Treaty with the Cherokee was concluded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 26, 1794. It reinforced the 1791 Treaty of Holston, and added to its terms.
A Treaty of Peace and Friendship made and concluded between the President of the United States of America and the Cherokee Nation of Indians signed on July 2, 1791 in Philadelpia, Pennsylvania.