Little Shell II’s World

Chapter two describes the early treaty and social history that defined the political stakes for the Plains Ojibwe and Métis into the future. This discussion includes a number of various treaties and their contexts that eventually came to define the boundaries of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Focusing primarily on the middle third of the nineteenth century, this chapter also demonstrates the growing colonial impositions that Plains Ojibwe and Métis were beginning to face in a rapidly changing world. The political environment that set the stage for the rest of what was to come was built in this time.

Conclusion

By any rational measure, the constitution adopted by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in October of 1932 was a failure. It did not lead to the much desired claim against the federal government, it was not a particularly effective governing document, nor did it engender a sense of respect or validity within the community. It was immediately despised by many, and less than thirty years after it was adopted it was replaced. It left little in the way of anything practical or useful to structure or guide the government of the Turtle Mountain Band into the future. What it did leave, however, was a legacy to which the community continues to respond and that continues to shape constitutionalism at Turtle Mountain today....

The Constitution

Chapter seven details the adoption of the superintendent’s constitution, the various groups vying for power at the time, and the community’s reaction and decision on the Indian Reorganization Act. By the early 1930’s the people of Turtle Mountain had been pursuing a claim against the federal government for decades. At the end of the Allotment Era, the federal government presented the community with a constitution that functioned less a governing document and more a tool to perpetuate control over tribal governance through the federal government. While many in the community recognized the deficiencies in the proposed constitution they nonetheless were led to believe that the constitution was a mandatory step toward a claim. Choosing the claim more than the constitution itself, Turtle Mountain ratified the proposed document. When the Indian Reorganization Act presented an alternative, the people of Turtle Mountain rejected it in fear of the consequences for the claim.

The Ten-Cent Treaty

Chapter four identifies how the negotiations for a treaty substitute exposed the cracks within the community and disrupted the leadership structure at Turtle Mountain, while the treaty substitute itself further established grounds for a claim against the federal government. In 1892 the federal government sent a commission to negotiate with the people of Turtle Mountain for unceded lands. This commission chose with whom to negotiate, stacking the deck for itself and disrupting the leadership structure within the community. The subsequent treaty substitute, derisively nicknamed the Ten-Cent Treaty, for its paltry payment, stalled in Washington D.C. for a dozen years before finally being ratified by Congress. Tribal discontent with the Ten-Cent Treaty was the next major step in the road to a claim against the federal government and the constitution.

The Reservation

Chapter three describes the establishment of the reservation and how that process laid a foundation for first the claim and eventually the constitution. The reservation was established, after much consternation on the northern prairie, through various Executive Orders. Considered temporary and politically expedient from the federal government’s perspective, the Executive Orders were unsatisfactory to everyone in the region. Settlers wanted the Plains Ojibwe and Métis completely removed from the territory. The Plains Ojibwe and Métis wanted a larger reservation and acknowledgement of ownership over land that they had not ceded. The reservation was the first major step on the road to a claim against the federal government.

The Claim

Chapter six describes the community’s strong desire for a claim against the United States and the various efforts toward a claim, beginning shortly after the establishment of the reservation and continuing through the ratification of the constitution. In the wake of the disastrous establishment of the reservation and the negotiations and enactment of the Ten-Cent Treaty, the people of Turtle Mountain developed a single political goal that united different factions within the community: establishing a lawsuit against the federal government. As number of obstacles made it impossible to file a suit, the desire to sue the federal government grew at Turtle Mountain. This chapter traces that growing desire and multiple efforts.

The Aftermath

Chapter five articulates the aftermath of the establishment of the reservation and treaty substitute, the difficult conditions on the reservation and elsewhere, the myriad ways the people of Turtle Mountain were subject to coercion and continued threat, and the ways in which members of the community responded to the conditions in which they found themselves. Focusing on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this chapter details the Allotment Era of federal Indian policy and its effects at Turtle Mountain. Two major issues emerged on and around the reservation at this time: enrolment and allotment. The treaty and reservation history forced the community to engage with increasingly difficult questions about who belonged and who had access to the land. These difficulties exacerbated the circumstances that eventually led to the constitution.

Green Setting Feather’s World

Chapter one describes the parent groups of the Turtle Mountain Band – the Plains Ojibwe and the Métis – and the often cooperative, sometimes contentious nature of their relationship. Beginning in the early nineteenth century through mid-century, the chapter demonstrates the evolution of the Plains Ojibwe and Métis, their leadership and governance structures, and their overlap. While both groups had much in common and were often cooperative, there was tension and conflict as well. Both the Plains Ojibwe and Métis made claims to the land that would eventually come under dispute with the federal government.

Introduction

On an otherwise pleasantly temperate day in the summer of 2009 I found myself trapped inside of a quiet, wood-paneled courtroom in Belcourt, North Dakota. I was on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Reservation nervously awaiting an important argument before the tribal court. Like many who are called to court, I was afraid of an uncertain future and unsure of how the day’s events would unfold. Unlike many who are called to court, I was sitting in one of the judges’ seats....