Indian New Deal and Reorganization

What happened

The Indian Reorganization Act, approved June 18, 1934, reversed the allotment policy of the previous half century. Its title says it was passed to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources, to extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations, to establish a credit system, and to grant certain rights of home rule.

The first section is blunt. From June 18, 1934, no land of any Indian reservation may be allotted in severalty to any Indian. The second section extended existing trust periods on Indian lands, and restrictions on selling them, until otherwise directed by Congress. The third authorized the Secretary of the Interior, if in the public interest, to restore to tribal ownership the remaining surplus lands of reservations that had been opened to sale.

Section 5 created the land-buying tool still used today. It authorizes the Secretary, in his discretion, to acquire land and water rights, within or outside reservations, for the purpose of providing land for Indians, with up to $2,000,000 authorized per year. Title is taken in the name of the United States in trust for the tribe or individual, and the land is exempt from state and local taxation.

The reach of that power was narrowed in Carcieri v. Salazar (decided February 24, 2009). The Court held that "now under Federal jurisdiction" in the Act refers to tribes under federal jurisdiction when the Act was enacted in 1934, so the Secretary could not take a 31-acre parcel into trust for the Narragansett Tribe.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error