Lesson Title: A Historical Look at American Indian Sovereignty

Day(s) Required: 1-2 Days

Minnesota State Social Studies Standards:

• 9.1.5.10.1 Explain how tribal sovereignty establishes a unique relationship between American Indian Nations and the United States government.

Cross-Curricular Integration:

Objectives, by the end of the lesson students will understand:

• political, cultural, and economic experiences of American Indians prior to the signing of the U.S. Constitution and the Nineteenth century.
• policies regarding American Indians and the impact of policies created by the United States government;
• American Indian policies passed and administered by the U.S. government during the Nineteenth Century; and
• how the Westward Movement for European Americans who were colonizing new lands, differed from American Indians whose lands were being occupied.

Essential Question:

What are the historical roots and political impact of American Indian sovereignty?

Engage:

Today we are going to begin learning about the relationship between the leaders of the new government of the United States of America in colonial times and the people of the many American Indian nations.

Spend 5 minutes responding to the following questions in Activity 6.1.1: Introduction about American Indian who lived in the U.S. over 400 years ago when the Europeans first arrived.

• How did the American Indians dress?
• What were their home likes?
• How did they make their living?
• When thinking of American Indians of today how does their lifestyle differ from American Indians of 400 years ago.

As a class let’s talk about our answers, particularly the last questions about the American Indians lifestyle.

• Have we engaged in labeling or stereotyping of American Indians?
• What is harmful when stereotyping?
• What types of stereotypes do you think non-Indians have about American Indians?

It is important that we erase our stereotypes and replace them with an understanding of diversity about the American Indians. Before and after the Euro-American contact, American Indians spoke hundreds of different languages, practiced a variety of spiritual beliefs, and experiences a variety of different political, economic, and cultural lifestyles.

During this lesson we are going to talk about how these perceptions and stereotypes affected Federal Indian Policy. The American Indians lost much of their diversity

Explain:

After Euro-Americans won their war for independence from Britain, they began to think about expanding to the west. The United States at this point was still a small nation, yet there were French, Spanish, and Indian people who lived on the North American continent. Expansion of Euro-Americans was difficult, especially given the fact that hundreds of Indian Nations lived on the westward land. While the Euro-Americans wanted to move westward towards the Pacific Ocean, it was clear that the hundreds of Indian nations living on the North American continent were not willingly or voluntarily going to give up their land.

To deal with what became known as the “Indian Problem,” the American government from 1787 through 1790 created three distinct policies that determined how Americans would deal with Indians in the western territories: the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1890.

• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 defines the manner in which the United States government would deal with the Indian nations.
  
• The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution declares that, “Congress shall have the power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” (Article 1, Section 8)
  
• The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 placed nearly all interaction between Indians and non-Indians under federal control, including buying and selling of Indian land. It also established the new boundaries of Indian Country, protected Indian lands against non-Indian aggression, subjected trading with Indians to federal regulation, and stipulated that injuries against Indians by non-Indians was a federal crime. The conduct of Indians among themselves while in Indian country was left entirely to the tribes.

With these three policies the new American government recognized the sovereignty of the Indian Nations. Briefly Tribal sovereignty is:

1. The supreme power from which all specific political powers are derived.
   
2. Inherent within Indian nations as it is derived from within a people or culture.
   
3. Both internal - the power of self-government within tribes - and external - the power to deal with other nations.

The three federal policies recognize internal sovereignty - the right of tribes to govern themselves. Later in our history the United States evolves and passes various policies related to Indian Nations, tribal internal sovereignty will be subject to Congressional approval and their right to external sovereignty will be terminated. By the 19th Century, Federal Indian policies reduced Indian Nations to semi-sovereign status - meaning American Indians will only be allowed sovereignty as defined by the U.S. government.

Let’s discuss this topic in the forum (Activity 6.1.1: Defining Sovereignty), the questions are as follows:

• Define sovereignty in your own words.
• In your own opinion, how does sovereignty apply to today’s American Indians.

Explore:

To further understand the American Indian sovereignty you need to understand the assimilation expectations as the American Indians were to give up their cultural, economic, political, and religious traditions in order to become more like Euro-American men and women. Thus, while the U.S. Government enacted these treaties and made these laws based upon assimilation.

To understand this we need to examine the treaties and Supreme Court decisions, as well as the Congressional laws that comprise the body of Federal Indian policies passed in the 19th Century.

Treaties and Supreme Court Decisions. Treaties are considered contracts between sovereign nations. In other words, they are legal (government-to-government) agreements between two governments that recognize each other's sovereignty. When an Indian nation signed a treaty, it agreed to give the federal government some or all of its land, as well as some or all of its powers. In return, the federal government entered into a trust responsibility with the American Indian Nation. The trust responsibility bound the United States to represent the best interests of the tribe, protect the safety and well-being of tribal members, and fulfill its treaty obligations and commitments.

Treaties were not the only legal entities that defined the federal relationship with Indian Nations. As early as 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court also assumed that role. In what is known as the Marshall Trilogy, the Supreme Court established the legal basis for interpreting federal Indian law and defining tribal sovereignty.

• Johnson v. M'Intosh (1823). During this case the question the U.S. Supreme Court had to consider was whether federal courts recognized the power of American Indians to give or sell land to private individuals. The Supreme Court ruled that individuals could not buy land directly from American Indians because the United States government had acquired ultimate title to Indian lands through the “doctrine of discovery.”
  
• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831). The Cherokee Nation sued the State of Georgia for passing laws and enacting policies that were forbidden in the Constitution and federal laws. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court had to determine if Indian Nations were foreign nations under the Constitution. Its ruling read, in part, that "the court... is of opinion that an Indian tribe or nation within the United States is not a foreign state in the sense of the constitution." The Court further proclaimed that Indians were neither US citizens, nor independent nations, rather were “domestic dependent nations” whose relationship to the US “resembles that of a ward to his guardian.”
  
• Worcester v. Georgia (1832) In September 1831, Samuel A. Worcester and other non-Native missionaries, were indicted in the Georgia supreme court for “residing within the limits of the Cherokee nation without a license.” Worcester argued that the state’s action violated the Constitution, treaties between the United States and the Cherokee nation, and the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790. When the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case on appeal it addressed the question of whether the state the Georgia had the authority to regulate the commerce between citizens of its state and members of the Cherokee Nation. The Court held that Georgia had interfered with the federal government's authority and its action was unconstitutional. The Court further stated than Indian people were under the "protection" of the federal government and in so being, Congress had overriding power over all Indian affairs.

Expand:

To further your learning discuss the following questions (in Activity 6.1.1: The Supreme Court and the American Indian):

• How do these Supreme Court cases change the nature of tribal sovereignty? How do they influence Indian cultural, political, economic, and spiritual traditions?
  
• Do you think these decisions were fair to the American Indians?
  
• How and why do you think these decisions were justified at the time? How do you think they are justified today?