Among the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States, there is a deep web of intricate law that protects our status as sovereign nations. These laws include protections for reservations, land, self-governance, funding, health services, and more. While laws and protections are extensive, knowledge of the inner workings of these services and their histories can be sparse. This is especially true given that Native American history is not a mandated curriculum in American schools, and the teachings of it can greatly vary.
At the most primary level, laws for tribes began with treaties between tribes and European colonizers. The first recorded treaty between new American settlers and Indian Nations is a treaty between the governors of New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and the Iroquois Five Nations at Fort George, New York. This treaty is a 123 page-long handwritten document that aimed to create a boundary for English settlers. Most treaties of this era involved boundaries, land, borders, or behaviors in some manner. The first recorded treaty between the U.S. and a tribe was the Treaty With the Delawares in 1778, which established the Delawares as allies against the British. These treaties, and others from 1722 to 1868, are digitally available through the National Archives.
Up until the late 1800’s, treaties were the basis for diplomacy and establishing principles between Indians and English settlers. In 1830, the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands began. During the removal, there was a shift in treatment of Native Americans as they were stripped of their families, homes, and sovereignty. Twenty years later, 1851 marked the year that the reservation system was put into place, and more control and assimilation ensued. In 1868, Congress stopped recognizing tribal nations as independent and self-governing. Subsequently, they passed the Indian Appropriations Act in 1871- abruptly ending treaty-making with Native American tribes.
The precedent of setting and respecting treaties was abandoned, and a new framework had to be established. A series of court cases, known as the Marshall Trilogy, implemented a new essence of respect for the modern-day recognition of American Indian legal proceedings. The series of Supreme Court cases consisted of Johnson v. M’Intosh (1823), Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), and Worcester v. Georgia (1832). Each case set a unique precedent for Indian affairs. Johnson v. M’Intosh determined that Indian lands could only be sold to the federal government, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia determined the tribes’ status as “domestic dependent nations,” and Worcester v. Georgia settled that only the federal government could have authority on Indian matters, leaving tribes their sovereignty within the states.
In 1924, Native Americans officially gained citizenship status through the Snyder Act. This act, along with past treaties and court rulings, have been respected as the guiding principles through which Native affairs are handled. Although no new treaties can be signed into law, old ones remain in effect.
Today, federally recognized tribes maintain their status as distinct political communities, which presents a unique form of sovereignty. Essentially, tribes function with their own government, under their own laws and statutes, due to the rights that came before the U.S. government was established in America. Sovereignty operates well when concerning internal affairs; it is only limited by federal laws concerning external matters.