Tribal Government
The Cherokee Nation's tribal government had been dismantled by the US Federal government under the Curtis Act of 1898. The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was introduced in 1934 to enable tribes to develop unicameral governments. Opposition to the IRA led to the creation of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, specifically to restore tribal governments within Oklahoma. However, the Cherokee Nation did not reorganize their government under these acts due to the restrictions on governmental structure dictated by the acts, and, as Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller writes, "because of our historical relationship with the United States and our belief in our inherent sovereignty as a nation."
Read more about this topic: J. B. Milam
Famous quotes containing the words tribal and/or government:
“Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)