Nation to nation Treaties between the United States & American Indian Nations

In this companion to a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian exhibition, 31 essays addressing the meaning and history of American Indian-US treaties elaborate on standard interpretations. Editor Harjo, a Native American rights advocate, also offers several personalized essays, including family traditions about treaties. Robert N. Clinton provides a stimulating scholarly description of treaties as organic proof of nation-to-nation relationships between Native nations and the US. Several other scholars and commentators explore American Indian responses to US colonialism. Descriptions of the struggles of the Iroquois, Cherokee, Plains nations, Navajo, and contemporary Native nations provide examples of the ongoing fight for treaty rights and recognition of sovereignty. Assertions of treaty rights began early and continued through fish-ins and on to the present recognition of self-determination for Indian nations by the US. This work conveys an understanding of the dominant American Indian perspective on the meaning of treaties, sound treaty histories, and Indians' agency on behalf of their own sovereignty. Summing Up: Recommended. Public and undergraduate collections. --Gregory Omer Gagnon, Loyola University of New Orleans

This seminal volume, being published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, also commemorates the museum's tenth anniversary. Those who contributed essays include Native and non-Native historians, legal scholars, and tribal activists, their sources culled from Native American material culture, tribal oral traditions, interviews, and historical documents. In assessing what went wrong with the 368 treaty relationships of mutual respect forged between 1777 and 1868, the authors cite numerous overreaches of power by the U.S. government, including the Doctrine of Discovery of 1823, whereby Indians lost the title to their lands, only retaining the right to occupy them; the civilization regulations which, beginning in 1883, criminalized everything traditional in Indian life; and the Plenary Power Doctrine of 1903, which stated that Congress could abrogate treaties without tribal consent. As the twentieth century unfolded, Indian nations dusted off their treaties and demanded that their original bilateral intent be fulfilled leading to the restoration of water rights, fishing rights, and tribal civil jurisdiction. This landmark volume highlights this crucial and evolving process.--Donovan, Deborah Copyright 2014 Booklist