Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations

by Vine Deloria, David E. Wilkins

Overview

"Federal Indian law . . . is a loosely related collection of past and present acts of Congress, treaties and agreements, executive orders, administrative rulings, and judicial opinions, connected only by the fact that law in some form has been applied haphazardly to American Indians over the course of several centuries. . . . Indians in their tribal relation and Indian tribes in their relation to the federal government hang suspended in a legal wonderland."

In this book, two prominent scholars of American Indian law and politics undertake a full historical examination of the relationship between Indians and the United States Constitution that explains the present state of confusion and inconsistent application in U.S. Indian law. The authors examine all sections of the Constitution that explicitly and implicitly apply to Indians and discuss how they have been interpreted and applied from the early republic up to the present. They convincingly argue that the Constitution does not provide any legal rights for American Indians and that the treaty-making process should govern relations between Indian nations and the federal government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292789456
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	06/28/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	221
File size:	825 KB

About the Author

Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), a Standing Rock Sioux, was active in Indian legal and political affairs for several decades. David E. Wilkins, a Lumbee, is Associate Professor of American Indian Studies and Political Science at the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter I. Europeans and the New World
• Chapter II. The Articles of Confederation
• Chapter III. The Constitution and American Indian Tribes
  • The Federalist Papers
  • Explicit Clauses Dealing with Indians
  • Implicit Clauses Dealing with Indians
• Chapter IV. The Relationship of Indian Tribes to the Three Branches of the Federal Government
  • Indians and the Executive Branch
  • Indians and the Legislative Branch
  • Indians and the Judicial Branch
• Chapter V. The Historical Development of Constitutional Clauses
  • The Treaty-making Power
  • The Power to Regulate Commerce
  • The Property Clause
  • Miscellaneous Constitutional Clauses
• Chapter VI. The Constitutional Amendments
  • The Bill of Rights
  • The First Amendment: The Establishment of Religion
  • The First Amendment: The Free Exercise Clause
    • The Lyng Decision
    • The Smith Decision
  • The First Amendment: Freedoms of Speech and Assembly
  • The Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure
  • The Fifth Amendment: Double Jeopardy
  • The Fifth Amendment: Due Process
  • The Fifth Amendment: Just Compensation
  • The Sixth Amendment: Legal Counsel
• Chapter VII. The Later Constitutional Amendments
  • The Thirteenth Amendment
  • The Fourteenth Amendment: Citizenship and Due Process
  • The Fifteenth Amendment
  • The Sixteenth Amendment
  • The Prohibition Amendments
  • The Twenty-sixth Amendment
• Chapter VIII. The Status of Indian Tribes and the Constitution
• Notes
• References
• Index of Cases
• General Index

What People are Saying About This

Rebecca Tsosie

This book is unique in its thorough analysis of the entire Constitution as it relates to Indian tribes.
-- Rebecca Tsosie, Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program, Arizona State University

Editorial Reviews

Prominent American Indian activist Deloria, a Standing Rock Sioux, joins with Wilkins (American Indian studies and political science, Univ. of Minnesota) to deliver a shocking indictment of American constitutional law as it regards American Indians. In tracing Euro-American relations with Indians from the "discovery" of the New World to the present day, the authors demonstrate that legal and political definitions of Indian sovereignty and rights have been, and still are, incoherent and inconsiderate. As a result, the brief mentions of Indians in the U.S. Constitution have not been adequately defined in legal or moral terms, and no one has considered how current Indian nations fit into the American constitutional framework. The authors' structured discussion works well. But while theirs is a much-needed historical work, it misses being a thorough legal analysis of the many U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have stripped away even the slimmest constitutional guarantees. A very readable popular work that is perhaps not best suited for legal research.--Steven Anderson, Gordon Feinblatt Rothman Hoffberger & Hollander, Towson, MD Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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