Tribal Sovereignty and the U.S. Government

This resource is an Inquiry Pack to accompany the Native American Legal History Timeline on LegalTimelines.org.

Built around primary sources from the Library of Congress and other collections, this Inquiry Pack facilitates a deep dive into an important aspect Native American legal history in the United States.

Each Inquiry Pack includes a background reading, several primary sources (documents, articles, images), discussion questions about the sources, an inquiry question, and an inquiry extension question.

This pack includes the following components:

• Introduction
• Early Tribal Sovereignty
• Early U.S. Government Relations
• U.S. Government Assimilation Efforts
• Reclaiming Tribal Self-Governance
• Inquiry Question: How has the federal government’s policy toward Native American Sovereignty changed over time?
• Inquiry Extension Question: What will tribal sovereignty look like in the future and why?
• Inquiry Question Graphic Organizer