THE AMERICAN INDIAN POLICY SINCE 1934
HISTORY OF FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY SINCE 1934 (THE FUTURE)

aitg67.jpg

 
 
HISTORY OF FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY SINCE 1934
 

1934-53: INDIAN REORGANISATION

 

In the early 1930s federal Indian policy abruptly changed and a more humane and considerate approach was adopted. A number of factors precipitated the change. For one thing, the onset of the Great Depression all but eliminated the desire of whites to obtain additional Indian lands. It also had become widely recognized that the General Allotment Act was very harmful to the Indians, disrupting their reservations, their culture, and their well-being. Mounting public criticism of the federal governments Indian policies encouraged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to make some radical changes.

 

In 1933 John Collier was appointed by Roosevelt as Commissioner of Indian Affaires, Collier, who had been personally involved in the Indian reform movement for more than a decade, declared in 1934: No interference with Indian religious life or expression will hereafter be tolerated. The cultural history of Indians is in all respects to be considered equal to that of any non-Indian group.

 

In June 1934 Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act. The express purpose of the IRA was to rehabilitate the Indians economic life and to give him a chance to develop the initiative destroyed by a century of oppression and paternalism.

 

The IRA not only prohibited the further allotment of tribal land to individual Indians, it also authorized the Secretary of the Interior to add lands to existing reservation, to create new reservations for landless tribes, and to restore to tribal ownership any land that had been removed as surplus under the General Allotment Act and not as yet sold to non-Indians. Indian tribes were encouraged to adopt their own constitutions, to become federally chartered corporations, and to assert their inherent powers of local self-government. The act established a $10 million revolving credit fund from which loans could be made to incorporated tribes. Finally, the act required the Secretary of the Interior to give Indians a preference in employment within the Bureau of Indian Affaires. This way, Indians would have some influence in administering, if not in formulating, federal Indian Policy.

 

Between 1935 and 1953 Indian landholdings increased by over two million acres, and federal funds were spent for on-reservation health facilities, irrigation works, roads, homes, and community schools. Unfortunately, the onset of World War II diverted the federal governments attention to other problems, and Indian economic well-being once again began to decline.

 

 

1953-68: TERMINATION

 

During the1950s Congress made another abrupt change in policy, abandoning the goals of the Indian Reorganisation Act and ending its efforts to improve Indian economic life. The new policy Congress adopted brought Indian tribes to the brink of economic collapse. This new policy was called termination: the termination of federal benefits and support services to certain Indian tribes and the forced dissolution of their reservations.

In 1953 Congress adopted House Concurrent Resolution No.108, which declared that federal benefits and services to various Indian tribes should be ended at the earliest possible time. In the decade that followed, Congress terminated its assistance to over one hundred tribes. Each of these tribes was ordered to distribute its land and property to its members and to dissolve its government.

In an effort to reduce federal responsability even further, Congress passed Public Law 83-280, generally known as P.L. 280. This statue conferred upon certain designated states full criminal and some civil juritication over Indian reservations and consented to the assumption of such juristication by any additional state that chose to accept it. State governments had lond resented the notion of tribal sovereignty and had made repeated efforts to gain control over Indian resources and people. P.L. 280 thus gave powers and responsabilities to the states- the traditional enemy of  Indian tribes that previously had been assumed by the federal government.

 

1968- : TRIBAL SELF-DETERMINATION

 

In 1968 President Johnson declared: We must affirm the rights as Americans. We must affirm their rights to freedom of choice and self-determination.

 

Federal Indian policy thus shifted its course once again. President Nixon, who had been Vice-President during the termination era, expressly denounced the termination policy in 1970 and stated: This, then, must be the goal of any new national policy toward the Indian people: to strengthen the Indian sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community.

 

Since the late 1960s, Congress has passed a number of statues that foster Indian self-determination and economic development. In 1968 Congress prohibited states from acquiring any authority over Indian reservations without the consent of the affected tribe. An Indian Business Development Fund was created by Congress to stimulate Indian business and employment. The Indian Financing Act, which established a revolving loan fund, and the Native American Programs Act, another Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, perhaps the single most important piece of Indian legislation since the Indian Reorganization Act, allows Indian tribes to administer the federal governments Indian programs on their reservation, and many tribes have used this opportunity to rid themselves of unnecessary federal domination. The Indian Mineral Development Act of 1982 gives tribes the flexibility to enter into joint-venture agreements with mineral developers in order to maximize the tribes financial return from their mineral resources. The Indian Tribal Government Tax Status enjoyed by the states, such as the ability to issue tax exempt bonds to finance government programs. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 authorizes Indian tribes to engage in gaming, such as bingo, to raise revenue and promote economic development.

 

Thus, Congress has repudiated the termination policies of the 1950s. As the Supreme Court noted in 1983, both the tribes and the federal government are firmly committed to the goal of promoting tribal self-government, a goal embodied in numerous federal statues.

 

 

 

FUNDAMENTAL POWERS OF INDIAN TRIBES

 

  1. POWER TO ESTABLISH A FORM OF GOVERNMENT

 

Federal law recognizes that Indian tribes may adopt whatever form of government best suits their own practical, cultural, or religious needs.

 

  1. POWER TO DETERMINE MEMBERSHIP

 

Membership determines, among the other things, the right to vote in tribal elections, to hold tribal office, to receive tribal resource rights such as grazing and residence privileges on tribal lands, and to participate in distribution of per capita payments when they occur.

 

  1. POLICE POWER

 

The authority of Indian tribes to legislate or otherwise adopt substantive civil and criminal laws follows from their status as sovereign political entities. This authority includes, but is not limited to, the power to regulate the conduct of individuals within the tribal governments jurisdiction, the power to determine domestic rights and relations, power to dispose of non-trust property and to establish rules for inheritance, the power to regulate commercial and business relations, the power to raise revenues for the operation of the government through taxation, and the power to administer justice through law enforcement and juridical branches.

 

  1. POWER TO ADMINISTER JUSTICE

 

The maintenance of law and order on the reservation is another element of tribal government that has been upheld firmly by the courts. Tribal criminal jurisdiction has been limited statutorily in terms of sentencing power and has been denied as applied to non-Indians since the Supreme Courts 1978 decision in Olyphant v. Squeamish Indian tribe. Tribes nevertheless possess broad authority to administer civil and criminal justice in Indian country.

 

  1. POWER TO EXCLUDE PERSONS FROM THE RESERVATION

 

This exclusionary power has been treated as a distinct right of sovereignty and given prominent recognition as a fundamental means by which Indian tribes can protect their territory against trespassers. The power to exclude persons is not unlimited, however, and non-members who hold valid federal patents to fee lands within the reservation cannot be denied access to their property.

 

  1. POWER TO CHARTER BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

 

Indian tribes possess the authority to establish, through charter or otherwise, business organizations for the purpose of managing tribal assets. Tribally chartered enterprises hold the same status as the tribe itself for purposes of federal income tax exemptions and sovereign immunity from suit. Tribes like states also can charter private corporations under tribal law and regulate their activities.

              SOME EXAMPLES OF ACTS CONCERNING THE INDIAN LEGISLATION

 

-         WHEELER-HOWARD ACT (INDIAN REORGANISATION ACT) JUNE 18, 1934

                                                                               

The culmination of the reform movement of the 1920`s led by john collier was the Wheeler-Howard act of 1934. This important legislation reversed the policy of allotment and encouraged tribal organisation.

An act to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources; to extend the Indians the right to form business and other organisations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for Indians; and for other purposes.

 

-  INDIAN CLAIMS COMISSION ACT, AUGUST 13, 1946

    

      The difficulty encountered by Indian tribes seeking suits against the United States in the court of claims led eventually to the formation of the Indian claims commission, a special tribunal to handle Indian claims. Originally established for ten years, the commissions life has been periodically extended.

An act to create an Indian claims commission, to provide for the powers, duties, and functions thereof, and for other purposes.

 

-         HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 108 AUGUST 1, 1953

 

In the eighty-third congress a fundamental change was made in Indian policy. House concurrent resolution 108 declared it to be the policy of the United States to abolish federal supervision over the tribes as soon as possible and to subject the Indians to the same laws, privileges, and the responsibilities as other citizens of the United States. As a result of this resolution the government began the process of `termination`, which aroused strong opposition on the part of the Indians

 

-         PUBLIC LAW AUGUST 15, 1953

 

Tribal self-determination and tribal relations with the federal government were significantly changed by public law 280 of the eighty-third congress, which extended state jurisdiction over offences committed by or against Indians in the Indian country.

 

-         CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1968, APRIL 11, 1968

 

Titles 2-7 of the civil rights act of 1968 dealt with Indian matters. Most significant was the application of the provisions of the bill of rights to Indians in their relations wit the tribal governments, the authorisation of a model code for courts of Indian offences, and the requirement that Indian consent be given to assumption by states of jurisdiction over Indian country.

 

-         INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ASSISTANCE ACT, JANUARY 4, 1975

 

One result of the drive for Indian participation in federal programs affecting Indians was this act, which provided that tribes could contract to run education and health programs themselves. The second part of the act provided more Indian control of schools educating Indian children.

 

-         AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, AUGUST 11, 1978

 

This broad statement of policy about Indian religious freedom, in the form of a joint resolution, was a significant congressional action in support of Indian cultural autonomy. It placed the responsibility for implementing it on federal departments and agencies.

 

-         FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF INDIAN TRIBES, OCTOBER 2, 1978

 

 

The movement for self-determination of Indians was reflected in agitation by non-recognized groups for acknowledgment of their tribal status by the federal government. In order to provide guidelines for such recognition, the bureau of Indian affairs issued `procedures for establishing that an American Indian group exists as an Indian tribe`.

 

-         ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT, OCTOBER 31, 1979

 

Indian religious and cultural rights were recognized by this law, which required consent of Indian tribes for the issuing of permits to de archaeological exploration on Indian lands.

An act to protect archaeological resources on public lands and Indian lands, and for other purposes.

 

       

-         INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION ACT, JANUARY 12, 1983

 

The problem of headship lands, in which subdivision resulted in plots too small to use efficiently, was attacked by this law, which provided for a start toward consolidation of fractionalised land.

 

-         INDIAN POLICY: STATEMENT OF RONALD REAGAN, JANUARY 24, 1983

 

President Reagans statement on Indian policy reflected his fundamental principles of reducing reliance on federal programs while placing greater responsibility on local units and the private sector. Cuts in federal aid during his administration, however, severely affected Indian communities.

aitg88.jpg