Brothertown Indians - Federal Recognition Status

Federal Recognition Status

In 1978 the Brothertown submitted its first petition of intent to gain federal recognition as a tribe, in order to be able to provide for people who live away from their small reservation, as well as to have status among federally recognized tribes. They want to establish historical records for their people as well. They contend they have maintained cultural identity and continuity, as well as political government.

In 1993 the Bureau of Indian Affairs acknowledged that the Brothertown Indians had been recognized as a sovereign tribe by the federal government in provisos to treaties of 1831 and 1832, and in the 1839 act granting them citizenship and allocation of lands in Wisconsin. The Office of the Solicitor of the Department of Interior confirmed in writing to the tribe that the Brothertown Indian Nation was eligible to petition the BIA for federal recognition, a process that the tribe has been pursuing. Had Congress's granting of citizenship status stripped the Brothertown Indian Nation of its federal acknowledgment in 1839, the tribe would have been deemed ineligible for the BIA's federal acknowledgment process (25 CFR sec. 83), and only an act of Congress could give the tribe federal acknowledgment. Based on the BIA's ruling, the Brothertown Indians spent several years compiling the data to petition for federal recognition from the Department of Interior's BIA and submitted a detailed petition in 2005.

In 2009, the Brothertown Indians were notified by the BIA of the preliminary finding that they did not satisfy five of the seven criteria for recognition. More importantly, the BIA reinterpreted its 1993 policy memo, and said in a press release that the tribe lost its federal status by the 1839 Congressional act:

“Congress, in the act of 1839, brought federal recognition of the relationship with the Brothertown Indian tribe of Wisconsin to an end. By expressly denying the Brothertown of Wisconsin any federal recognition of a right to act as a tribal political entity, Congress has forbidden the federal government from acknowledging the Brothertown as a government and from having a government-to-government relationship with the Brothertown as an Indian tribe.”

In its preliminary finding, the BIA said the Brothertown Indians

• had not shown community recognition as an American Indian “entity” on a “substantially continuous” basis;
• proof of continuous political authority;
• proof of continuous community; and
• proof that all the members descend from the historical tribe.