AIPI Tribal Sovereignty

Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the United States Constitution and the way that legal analysis and practice have interpreted and misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nation's founding. The Constitution formalized the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States government--a relationship forged through a long history of war and land usurpation--within a federal structure not mirrored in the traditions of tribal governance. Although the Constitution recognized the sovereignty of Indian nations, it did not safeguard tribes against the tides of national expansion and exploitation As Broken Landscape demonstrates, the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the Constitution's recognition of tribal sovereignty. Instead, it has favored excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. The Supreme Court has strayed from its Constitutional roots as well, consistently issuing decisions over two centuries that have bolstered federal power over the tribes. Frank Pommersheim, one of America's leading scholars in Indian tribal law, offers a novel and deeply researched synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. Closing with a proposal for a Constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty, Pommersheim challenges us to finally accord Indian tribes and Indian people the respect and dignity that are their due.

Standing Rock Sioux activist, professor, and attorney Vine Deloria, Jr., shares his thoughts about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists in a collection of eleven eye-opening essays infused with humor. This "manifesto" provides valuable insights on American Indian history, Native American culture, and context for minority protest movements mobilizing across the country throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Originally published in 1969, this book remains a timeless classic and is one of the most significant nonfiction works written by a Native American.

"A pioneering work, responsible in vision and treatment, it focuses on the judicial branch of government, giving an overview of federal Indian law in perspective of political and legal rights."

In 1934, Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier began a series of ?congresses? with American Indians to discuss his proposed federal bill for granting self-government to tribal reservations. For the first time, the reservation Indian was asked for input in the structuring of American Indian relations with federal and state government and law. In The Indian Reorganization Act, Vine Deloria, Jr., has compiled the actual historical records of those congresses. Deloria makes available important documents of the premier years of reform in federal Indian policy as well as the bill itself. A version of Collier?s act eventually passed Congress, but in a less far-reaching form. Nevertheless, a new concept of self-government had emerged, one that now defines the federal government?s approach to American Indian policy and that has changed forever the way American Indians define themselves.

Rising from the Ashes explores continuing Native American political, social, and cultural survival and resilience with a focus on the life of Numiipuu (Nez Perce) anthropologist Archie M. Phinney. He lived through tumultuous times as the Bureau of Indian Affairs implemented the Indian Reorganization Act, and he built a successful career as an indigenous nationalist, promoting strong, independent American Indian nations. Rising from the Ashes analyzes concepts of indigenous nationalism and notions of American Indian citizenship before and after tribes found themselves within the boundaries of the United States. Collaborators provide significant contributions to studies of Numiipuu memory, land, loss, and language; Numiipuu, Palus, and Cayuse survival, peoplehood, and spirituality during nineteenth-century U.S. expansion and federal incarceration; Phinney and his dedication to education, indigenous rights, responsibilities, and sovereign Native Nations; American Indian citizenship before U.S. domination and now; the Jicarilla Apaches' self-actuated corporate model; and Native nation-building among the Numiipuu and other Pacific Northwestern tribal nations. Anchoring the collection is a twenty-first-century analysis of American Indian decolonization, sovereignty, and tribal responsibilities and responses.  

Crow's Dog Case is the first social history of American Indians' role in the making of American law. This book sheds new light on Native American struggles for sovereignty and justice in nineteenth-century America. The 'century of dishonor', a time when American Indians' lands were lost and their tribes reduced to reservations, provoked a wide variety of tribal responses. Some of the more succesful responses were in the area of law, forcing the newly independent American legal order to create a unique place for Indian tribes in American law. Although the United States has a system of law structuring a unique position for American Indians, they have been left out of American legal history. Crow Dog, Crazy Snake, Sitting Bull, Bill Whaley, Tla-coo-yeo-oe, Isparhecher, Lone Wolf, and others had their own jurisprudence, kept alive by their own legal traditions.