Indian Land Rights Essay, Research Paper
Tribal Affiliations
The injustices that happened long ago are still not fixed and need to be,
because they are visible everyday through the hardships these people face.
Introduction
Ever since Europeans discovered America Native Americans began losing their
land progressively for the next couple of hundred years following the settlement
of the first Europeans. What was once a country that was dominated by the
inhabitance of Native Americans, the United States is no longer the home it once
was. Native Americans during the past centuries have lost an enormous amount of
land and their rights to their property and not only till recently have
repercussions been taken. Native Americans are now fighting for their land that
they lost long ago in addition to water rights that many tribes need.
In this paper we?ll look at the some of the major acts that have affected
Indians and also the problems that some tribes face and how some tribes are
dealing with their land rights.
The General Allotment Act
American Indians had considerably lost much of their land during the 17th and
18th centuries but not till the 19th century were their any real big acts of
congress that made the taking of Indian land legal. Indians before the 19th
century had been living on reservations but not till the mid to later 1800?s
was the government at the height of its power to allocate Indian land to white
settlers and place more Indians on reservations. One of the most influential
acts of Congress that rid Indians of their land is The General Allotment Act
also known as the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act did not affect Pueblo Indian tribes
as it did other tribes. (Andersen 1992:112-115)
The Dawes Act was signed into law on February 8, 1887 and contained five
basic provisions. (1) Indian reservations would be divided and each tribal
member would receive a grant of land consisting of 160 acres for each family
head, a grant of 80 acres for each single person over eighteen, and 40 acres for
each juvenile; (2) Indians would receive fee simple title to their individual
holdings, but the land were to be held in trust by the government for
twenty-five years during which time they could not be alienated; (3) The Indians
would be given four years to make their selections, after which time the
government would make their selection for them; (4) United Stated citizenship
would be conferred upon any Indian who maintained his allotment and adopted the
advantages of civilized life; and (5) un-allotted tracts of land would be
declared a surplus and sold by the government. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 86)
Significance of the Dawes Act
Of the five provisions that are in the Dawes Act the first and the last
provisions are the most important. The first provision divides the land up
between the Indians, which may seem like a good idea but what occurs is that by
limiting how much land each individual can receive the Indians are left with
less land than they originally had. Since there is excess land now that Indians
lost their land the last provision calls for the selling of surplus land. The
amount of surplus land that the Indians lost was about 62,000,000 acres from the
original 136,000,000 they once had. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 88)
This surplus land was then sold to homesteaders, but the fact is that the
homesteaders were given better land than the Indians who were left with land
that was not good for living or farming. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 89)
Due to the Dawes Act the Indians lost much of their land and the land that
they did possess was not very good.
Present Day Claims of Land
During the past 30 years Indians have began claiming ?their? land by the
masses. There are many tribes that have taken legal steps in order to acquire
the land that they lost long ago. For instance in congress there are many bills
being sponsored so that Indians may receive some of their land back which they
lost to numerous acts of congress and broken treaties. Some present day bills
that in congress are bills such as Senator Barbara Boxer?s California Indian
Land Transfer Act, which would transfer additional lands to Californian
reservations or
Termination Acts
During the Eisenhower administration policies were enacted to terminate
certain tribes. Terminating was a way for the federal government to assimilate
the Native Americans into the white person?s world. Not only was the purpose
of termination to assimilate Indians but also by terminating certain tribes the
government would not have to allocate money to help fund Native American
reservations. During Termination tribal authority was stripped from the control
of schools, public buildings and their authority.
Problems Faced by Tribes that were Terminated
The problems that tribes faced as a result of the Termination acts that some
tribes were faced with was that many tribes that were once receiving funding
from the government for schools and hospitals were not receiving funding
anymore. Tribes were not able to fund themselves and again Federal assistance
was needed. In addition many tribes that made money from having corporations
that were run by the government were put into the hands of the Indians who had
no experience in running a corporation. Eventually the corporation that was once
able to support the tribe couldn?t anymore because of the management. Most of
the times the corporations would have to be sold off to the whites. There were
also times when tribes were forced to liquidate their assets. When many Indians
liquidated their assets they had cash in their hands but they did not know how
to manage their money so many Indians soon found themselves with no money or
assets at all. The federal government?s main purpose for termination was to
assimilate the Indians and also try to help the Indians take care of themselves
so that government would not have to allocate as much money to them. However
termination did not lessen the allocation of money to the Indians because the
Indians could not survive on their own once they were terminated so they needed
Federal funding once again. Eventually the government stopped terminating tribes
and in fact those tribes that were once terminated are now recognized once
again. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 90-91)
Effects Upon the Menominee and Klamath Tribes
In 1953 the Menominee?s of Wisconsin were among the most prosperous tribes
in the United States with over 90 million dollars in financial assets, however
the Menominee?s did not remain prosperous for very long. Under the Menominee
Termination Act of 1954, the tribe was handed over complete responsibility for
managing the tribal paper mill, and for providing its members with social
services that were once provided by the government. Menominee Enterprises, Inc.
was established to run the mill and each tribal member had a share in the
corporation. The corporation did not last long due to the high cost of providing
tribal services, poor management decisions and the loss of the tribe?s tax
exemption. Soon the company had to sell of its assets to pay off its debt and
finally the enterprise collapsed, and banks, farms and lumber companies,
absorbed the Indian?s remaining resources. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 90)
Another group that was greatly affected by termination was the Klamath of
Oregon that had similar experiences to that of the Menominee following
termination of federal supervision. In August 13, 1954 the Klamath were
terminated from their relation to the federal government. The termination
dissolved the Klamath reservation and each Klamath received about $43,000. The
Klamath did receive money but there was no lasting benefit to the majority of
them because most of the Klamath spent their money of living a fancy lifestyle.
Within four years after receiving the money 40% of the Klamath had no money left
over. Due to the inability of the Klamath to manage their money they had little
left over. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 91)
Many tribes were terminated by the federal government but eventually the
government realized that termination was no a good policy. The government has
now gotten rid of termination and started recognizing those that were previously
terminated.
Alaska Natives Settlement Claims Act
In 1971 Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The act
mandated that modern profit-making corporations be established to receive cash
and land award totaling $962.5 million and approximately 44 million acres of
land. The 12 corporations that were founded became the tribes of Alaska. The
corporations are government established and Natives and a few white
professionals run the corporations. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 85-96)
Some of the problems that the natives have had are poor management,
institutional indifference and the lack of familiarity with white business
practices. Since 1991 Natives were able to sell their stocks in the corporations
and many have. A strong possibility is corporate takeover of the Indian
corporations. The Indians have the money and the resources but the fact is that
they do not know how to manage them very well. Eventually if the corporations
are not run the right way other companies will eventually buy out the Indians.
The Alaskan Natives may soon feel the way other tribes do if they are not
careful with what they have. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 85-96)
Nuclear Waste Storage
Over the past couple of years an increasing amount of Indian tribes have
thought about the prospect of storage of Nuclear Waste on reservations. Due to
the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 tribal sovereignty allows for
the storage of nuclear waste on reservations. Many Native American tribes are
not wealthy or have the necessities that they desire. With many Indian that are
without skills the only way for tribes to accumulate money is to use what
resources they do have. In this case the resource is land. By building a nuclear
waste facility on tribal land Indians will be able to acquire a great deal of
money. One such tribe that has made the decision to build a nuclear waste
storage facility is the Mescalero Apache Tribe. (Leonard)
Mescalero Apache Tribe
The Mescalero Apache Tribe lives in Southeastern New Mexico and they own a
popular resort, a ski resort, casino?s and they have 7,000 head of cattle.
Despite all of this the majority of the tribe lives under the poverty line, a
third of them are unemployed, they lack a school system and they suffer from
housing shortages. There are many complaints and worries about the decision of
the Mescalero?s to put nuclear waste storage facility on their lands but
nothing can be done about it. The decision to build the facility lies solely in
the hands of the tribe. (Leonard)
The Debate at Yucca Mountain Nevada
During the mid 1980?s the Department of Energy was searching for a site to
build a nuclear waste storage facility. The DOE decided that Yucca Mountain in
Nevada would be an appropriate site for building the storage facility. However
many Indian tribes claimed the Yucca mountain sacred land and did not want
anyone building there because it would desecrate their holy land. Yucca Mountain
though is not part of a reservation or property of any Indian tribe. A debate
spurned between the government and the Native American tribes over the issue of
building this facility. What emerged from this debate was a new way of dealing
with land that is sacred to Indians but not officially their property.
Eventually the DOE accepted that the facility would no be built at Yucca
mountain based on the fact that it was a cultural site. Due to this debate
Tribes are now able to stop any desecration of land if the Tribes are able to
provide evidence that the land has great cultural significance. (Lyden and
Legters 1992: 243-249)
Controversy over Water Rights
One of the largest controversies that Native Americans have besides problems
over land rights is the controversy over water rights. Water rights are very
important because they determine how much water a particular tribe may receive
for their land. The amount of water they receive helps determine how much of
their land can be irrigated and if they are going to get enough water to farm.
In the southwest water rights are a big problem because many areas have dams and
the water rights give the tribes the right to divert water to their land. In
addition there is much competition over water in the southwest and if a tribe
gets their water rights then it means that water will be appropriated to them
instead of to whites. If a tribe does obtain water rights many times they are
not able to use these rights because the tribes fail to have the right machinery
and tools. Currently there are many bills going through congress on the subject
of water rights. Till there is satisfaction in the Indian community Indians will
continue their fight for rights. (Anderson 168-169)
Conclusion
Over the past couple of centuries many injustices have been committed to the
Native Americans. Native Americans put their trust in us long ago but the
government broke that trust by taking what the Native Americans had. They are
finally fighting back for their rights and what they owned but the fight is
progressing slowly. No matter how much the Indians want their land back they
will never get everything back because you can?t go back into the past and
undo the wrong that?s been committed. It?s our job to do what we can to mend
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