Ancient Indian Land Claims

Ancient Indian Land Claims
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Indian Affairs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1420
Release: 1983
Genre: Government publications
ISBN:

Formulating American Indian Policy in New York State, 1970-1986

Formulating American Indian Policy in New York State, 1970-1986
Author: Laurence M. Hauptman
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 238
Release: 1988-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780887067549

This is the first descriptive analysis of how American Indian policies are made both at the statewide and at agency levels. Pertinent to all states, the study describes New York's historic policies and emphasizes that improving Indian lifestyles or attracting Indians to government employment is handicapped by their overall distrust of state intentions, a distrust caused by the continued impasse on American Indian land claims. Employing archival records never before used, as well as a plethora of interviews with state officials and American Indians over a fifteen-year period, Hauptman concludes that critical policy changes are needed to build lasting trust.

Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership

Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership
Author: Laurence M. Hauptman
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2022-12-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0815656718

In Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership, Laurence M. Hauptman traces the past 200 years of the Six Nations’ history through the lens of the remarkable leaders who shaped it. Focusing on the distinct qualities of Iroquois leadership, Hauptman reveals how the Six Nations have survived in the face of overwhelming pressure. Celebrated figures such as Governor Blacksnake, Cornelius Cusick, and Deskaheh are juxtaposed with less well-known but nonetheless influential champions of Iroquoian culture and sovereignty such as Dinah John. Hauptman’s survey includes over thirty contemporary women, highlighting the important role female leaders have played in Iroquois survival throughout history to the present day. The book offers historical and contemporary portraits of leaders from all six Iroquois nations and all regions of modern-day Iroquoia.

Iroquois Land Claims

Iroquois Land Claims
Author: Christopher Vecsey
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 1988
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780815624349

The landmark Oneida Supreme Court decisions of 1974 and 1985 testify to the fact that the Iroquois' day in court has finally arrived. Although Indian petitions to regain their shrinking land base have generally caught the non-Indian public by surprise, land rights have been an issue for the Iroquois for the past two-hundred years. This book provides a balanced appraisal of the land claims made by several of the Iroquois tribes. By drawing upon the viewpoints of those who have a direct stake in the land claims' outcome-Iroquois, attorneys representing or defending against the claims, expert witnesses--and those who have extensive knowledge of the controversy, this book reveals the complexity of the issues. While there is no easy way to resolve these claims, the uniquely qualified contributors stress that a negotiated settlement is preferable to a litigated one. The fact that these cases have had to be brought to court, even to the Supreme Court, is evidence of the seriousness of the issues involved. This timely book strikes a balance among the various parties to the land disputes, proving an invaluable resource to academics, students, legal professionals, policymakers, and the public at large.

Documents of Native American Political Development

Documents of Native American Political Development
Author: David E. Wilkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2018-09-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 019021208X

Before Europeans arrived in what is now known as the United States, over 600 diverse Native nations lived on the same land. This encroachment and subsequent settlement by Americans forcibly disrupted the lives of all indigenous peoples and brought about staggering depopulation, loss of land, and cultural, religious, and economic changes. These developments also wrought profound changes in indigenous politics and longstanding governing institutions. David E. Wilkins' two-volume work Documents of Native American Political Development traces how indigenous peoples have maintained and continued to exercise a significant measure of self-determination contrary to presumptions that such powers had been lost, surrendered, or vanquished. Volume One provided materials from the 1500s to 1933. This collection of primary source and other documents begins in 1933 and spans the subsequent eight decades. Broadly, the volume organizes this period into the following distinctive eras: indigenous political resurgence and reorganization (1934 to 1940s); indigenous termination/relocation (1940s to 1960s); indigenous self-determination (1960s to 1980s); and indigenous self-governance (1980s to present). Wilkins presents documents including the governing arrangements Native nations created and adapted that are comparable to formal constitutions; international and interest group records; statements by prominent Native and non-Native individuals; and sources featuring important innovations that display the political acumen of Native nations. The documents are arranged chronologically, and Wilkins provides concise, introductory essays to each document, placing them within the proper context. Each introduction is followed by a brief list of suggestions for further reading. This continued examination of fascinating and relatively unknown indigenous history, from a number of influential legal and political writings to the formal constitutions crafted since the American intervention of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the history, law, and political development of Native peoples.

In the Shadow of Kinzua

In the Shadow of Kinzua
Author: Laurence M. Hauptman
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2014-01-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0815652380

The Kinzua Dam has cast a long shadow on Seneca life since World War II. The project, formally dedicated in 1966, broke the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, flooded approximately 10,000 acres of Seneca lands in New York and Pennsylvania, and forced the relocation of hundreds of tribal members. Hauptman offers both a policy study, detailing how and why Washington, Harrisburg, and Albany came up with the idea to build the dam, and a community study of the Seneca Nation in the postwar era. Although the dam was presented to the Senecas as a flood control project, Hauptman persuasively argues that the primary reasons were the push for private hydroelectric development in Pennsylvania and state transportation and park development in New York. This important investigation, based on forty years of archival research as well as on numerous interviews with Senecas, shows that these historically resilient Native peoples adapted in the face of this disaster. Unlike previous studies, In the Shadow of Kinzua highlights the federated nature of Seneca Nation government, one held together in spite of great diversity of opinions and intense politics. In the Kinzua crisis and its aftermath, several Senecas stood out for their heroism and devotion to rebuilding their nation for tribal survival. They left legacies in many areas, including two community centers, a modern health delivery system, two libraries, and a museum. Money allocated in a “compensation bill” passed by Congress in 1964 produced a generation of college-educated Senecas, some of whom now work in tribal government, making major contributions to the Nation’s present and future. Facing impossible odds and hidden forces, they motivated a cadre of volunteers to help rebuild devastated lands. Although their strategies did not stop the dam’s construction, they laid the groundwork for a tribal governing structure and for managing other issues that followed from the 1980s to the present, including land claims litigation and casinos.