Abstract
In 1924 the U.S. Congress adopted the Indian Citizenship Act which unilaterally declared that any Native person who was not yet an American citizen was now a beneficiary of federal citizenship. This law was a culmination of previous federal statutes and court rulings that had extended citizenship to Natives, often over their stern objections. An essential tenet of democracy is the principle of “consent of the governed.” But in most instances, federal impositions of U.S. citizenship occurred without the informed consent of Native individuals. In this study, I examine several of the major Supreme Court rulings that upheld the complicated status of enfranchised Natives as both “subjects” of federal law and “citizens” of not only the U.S. but also their own Tribal nation. This “partial” citizen status remains today for citizens of federally-acknowledged Native nations and leaves individual Native citizens with a murky political and legal status.
Presenters
David WilkinsProfessor, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Virginia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Civic, Political, and Community Studies
KEYWORDS
CITIZENSHIP, INDIGENOUS, WARDSHIP, TRUSTEESHIP, CONSENT, CONSTITUTIONALISM, NATIVE NATION
