ABSTRACT
SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, AND BEFORE, CONTROL OF land and the resources within it has been the essential source of conflict between the Euroamerican settler population and indigenous nations. In effect, contentions over land usage and ownership have served to define the totality of U.S./Indian relationships from the first moment, shaping not only the historical flow of interactions between invader and invaded, but the nature of the ongoing domination of native people in areas such as governance and jurisdiction, identification, recognition, and education.1
