ABSTRACT
This chapter explores division of power that is less familiar to many Americans but no less constitutionally interesting-the division of power between the federal government and Native American tribal governments. At the time when European colonization of North America began, the Indian population numbered an estimated 12 million or more, organized into various tribes or nations, each sharing a common language and ethnicity. The federal Constitution, by contrast, granted the power to deal with Indian tribes to the federal government exclusively. With the enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, federal policy shifted from assimilation to Indian self-determination through the revival of tribal governments. The loss of communal control over land and its use also undermined the authority of tribal governments. In a series of rulings over three decades, the Supreme Court under Marshall outlined a doctrine of limited tribal land rights.
