ABSTRACT
The extent of the sovereignty or self-governing powers of Indian tribes is not generally understood, in the way that Americans understand the powers of their nation, states, counties, and municipalities. Montanans are no exception. Scholarship scarcely addressed Indian self-government within the reservations. In the Cherokee opinions, John Marshall identified a second power lost to Indian tribes within the United States as a result of their status: they could not enter direct commercial or governmental relations with other nations of the world. The treaties foreshadowed the presence of whites who were employed or authorized by the federal government as agents, traders, and teachers. Agricultural lands sold or released were to be held by the federal government for actual settlers who could obtain homesteads on the reservations in tracts not exceeding 160 acres. In the entire period, the paternalistic attitudes and procedures of the Bureau of Indian Affairs left little room for tribes to function as governments.
