Indian tribes how many

As part of its archeology program, the National Park Service protects historic sites and shares the past with visitors. The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation assists tribes with critical issues. You may also locate your state housing counseling agency or call to locate the agency nearest you. Ask a real person any government-related question for free. State tribal recognition for the states below specifically refers to states that have created a formal process for recognition.

Please note, some states, even if they have not established a formal process for recognition acknowledge the historical and cultural contribution of tribes, however they are not captured in this list.

Create Account. At least 45 others were negotiated with tribes but were never ratified by the Senate. The treaties that were made often contain commitments that have either been fulfilled or subsequently superseded by Congressional legislation. In addition, American Indians and Alaska Natives can access education, health, welfare, and other social service programs available to all citizens, if they are eligible. Even if a tribe does not have a treaty with the United States, or has treaties that were negotiated but not ratified, its members may still receive services from the BIA or other federal programs, if eligible.

The specifics of particular treaties signed by government negotiators with Indian tribes are contained in one volume Vol. Originals of all the treaties are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration of the General Services Administration. The relationship between federally recognized tribes and the United States is one between sovereigns, i. Because the Constitution vested the Legislative Branch with plenary power over Indian Affairs, states have no authority over tribal governments unless expressly authorized by Congress.

While federally recognized tribes generally are not subordinate to states, they can have a government-to-government relationship with these other sovereigns, as well. Furthermore, federally recognized tribes possess both the right and the authority to regulate activities on their lands independently from state government control. They can enact and enforce stricter or more lenient laws and regulations than those of the surrounding or neighboring state s wherein they are located.

Yet, tribes frequently collaborate and cooperate with states through compacts or other agreements on matters of mutual concern such as environmental protection and law enforcement. In , Congress enacted Public Law 67 Stat. However, the law did not grant states regulatory power over tribes or lands held in trust by the United States; federally guaranteed tribal hunting, trapping, and fishing rights; basic tribal governmental functions such as enrollment and domestic relations; nor the power to impose state taxes.

These states also may not regulate matters such as environmental control, land use, gambling, and licenses on federal Indian reservations. In addition, the federal government gave up all special criminal jurisdiction in these states over Indian offenders and victims.

The states that elected to assume full or partial jurisdiction were Arizona , Florida , Idaho , subject to tribal consent , Iowa , Montana , Nevada , North Dakota , subject to tribal consent , South Dakota , Utah , and Washington Tribes possess all powers of self-government except those relinquished under treaty with the United States, those that Congress has expressly extinguished, and those that federal courts have ruled are subject to existing federal law or are inconsistent with overriding national policies.

Tribes, therefore, possess the right to form their own governments; to make and enforce laws, both civil and criminal; to tax; to establish and determine membership i. Limitations on inherent tribal powers of self-government are few, but do include the same limitations applicable to states, e. For thousands of years, American Indians and Alaska Natives governed themselves through tribal laws, cultural traditions, religious customs, and kinship systems, such as clans and societies.

Today, most modern tribal governments are organized democratically, that is, with an elected leadership. Through their tribal governments, tribal members generally define conditions of membership, regulate domestic relations of members, prescribe rules of inheritance for reservation property not in trust status, levy taxes, regulate property under tribal jurisdiction, control the conduct of members by tribal ordinances, and administer justice. They also continue to utilize their traditional systems of self-government whenever and wherever possible.

Many tribes have constitutions, others operate under articles of association or other bodies of law, and some have found a way to combine their traditional systems of government within a modern governmental framework. Some do not operate under any of these acts, but are nevertheless organized under documents approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Contemporary tribal governments are usually, but not always, modeled upon the federal system of the three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The chief executive of a tribe is usually called a chairman, chairwoman or chairperson, but may also be called a principal chief, governor, president, mayor, spokesperson, or representative. In modern tribal government, the chief executive and members of the tribal council or business committee are almost always elected.

It is comprised of tribal members who are elected by eligible tribal voters. In some tribes, the council is comprised of all eligible adult tribal members. Although some tribes require a referendum by their members to enact laws, a tribal council generally acts as any other legislative body in creating laws, authorizing expenditures, appropriating funds, and conducting oversight of activities carried out by the chief executive and tribal government employees.

An elected tribal council and chief executive, recognized as such by the Secretary of the Interior, have authority to speak and act for the tribe as a whole, and to represent it in negotiations with federal, state, and local governments.

Furthermore, many tribes have established, or are building, their judicial branch — the tribal court system — to interpret tribal laws and administer justice.

Generally, tribal courts have civil jurisdiction over Indians and non-Indians who either reside or do business on federal Indian reservations. They also have criminal jurisdiction over violations of tribal laws committed by tribal members residing or doing business on the reservation. Under 25 C. Part , tribal courts are responsible for appointing guardians, determining competency, awarding child support from Individual Indian Money IIM accounts, determining paternity, sanctioning adoptions, marriages, and divorces, making presumptions of death, and adjudicating claims involving trust assets.

Congress has recognized the right of tribes to have a greater say over the development and implementation of federal programs and policies that directly impact on them and their tribal members. It did so by enacting two major pieces of legislation that together embody the important concepts of tribal self-determination and self-governance: The Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act of , as amended 25 U.

Through these laws, Congress accorded tribal governments the authority to administer themselves the programs and services usually administered by the BIA for their tribal members. It also upheld the principle of tribal consultation, whereby the federal government consults with tribes on federal actions, policies, rules or regulations that will directly affect them. Of course, blood quantum the degree of American Indian or Alaska Native blood from a federally recognized tribe or village that a person possesses is not the only means by which a person is considered to be an American Indian or Alaska Native.

In fact, there is no single federal or tribal criterion or standard that establishes a person's identity as American Indian or Alaska Native. The rights, protections, and services provided by the United States to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives flow not from a person's identity as such in an ethnological sense, but because he or she is a member of a federally recognized tribe.

That is, a tribe that has a government-to-government relationship and a special trust relationship with the United States. These special trust and government-to-government relationships entail certain legally enforceable obligations and responsibilities on the part of the United States to persons who are enrolled members of such tribes. Eligibility requirements for federal services will differ from program to program. Likewise, the eligibility criteria for enrollment or membership in a tribe will differ from tribe to tribe.

According to the U. Bureau of the Census, the estimated population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race, as of July 1, , was 4. They also refer specifically to persons eligible for benefits and services funded or directly provided by the BIA.

Although the Secretary of the Interior is authorized by law to protect, where necessary, the interests of minors and adult persons deemed incompetent to handle their affairs, this protection does not confer a guardian-ward relationship. As early as , U. American citizenship was also conveyed by statutes, naturalization proceedings, and by service in the Armed Forces with an honorable discharge in World War I.

In , Congress extended American citizenship to all other American Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States. American Indians and Alaska Natives are citizens of the United States and of the individual states, counties, cities, and towns where they reside.

They can also become citizens of their tribes or villages as enrolled tribal members. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the right to vote just as all other U. They can vote in presidential, congressional, state and local, and tribal elections, if eligible. We are excited to announce the updated report is now published as of February, Table of Contents. The guide "Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction" developed by the National Congress of American Indians seeks to provide a basic overview of the history and underlying principles of tribal governance.

The guide also provides introductory information about tribal governments and American Indian and Alaska Native people today. The purpose of the guide is to ensure that policy decision makers at the local, state, and federal level understand their relationship to tribal governments as part of the American family of governments.