Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights

Policy era

Self-Determination

After Nixon's 1970 message rejecting termination, Congress returned Blue Lake's 48,000 acres, settled Alaska Native claims in 1971, and passed the 1975 self-determination law.

Years
1970–1987

What happened

Self-determination replaced termination as federal policy in the 1970s. President Nixon's Special Message on Indian Affairs, July 8, 1970, called forced termination wrong and set the new direction.

Blue Lake was an early test. The National Archives says President Nixon signed H.R. 471 on December 15, 1970, transferring legal ownership of the lake and surrounding mountain land to Taos Pueblo. At the signing Nixon said the act represented justice because in 1906 an injustice was done, when 48,000 acres were taken from the Taos Pueblo Indians. The Archives records that the Pueblo had pursued the return for generations and that earlier compromises in 1927 and 1940 left them unsatisfied.

On December 18, 1971, Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The Congressional Research Service calls it the largest land claims settlement in U.S. history at the time. It says ANCSA extinguished Alaska Native claims to over 360 million acres, Alaska Natives received approximately 45 million acres, and the corporations shared a payment of approximately $962.5 million. Land went to more than 200 village corporations and 12 regional corporations, not to tribes.

In the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of January 4, 1975, Congress recognized the obligation of the United States to respond to the strong expression of the Indian people for self-determination by assuring maximum Indian participation in directing federal services.

Good to know. Sources differ on ANCSA land: the Congressional Research Service says about 45 million acres, others up to 44 million. Alaska Native corporation land is not tribal trust land.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. This policy of forced termination is wrong, in my judgment, for a number of reasons.Special Message to the Congress on Indian Affairs, July 8, 1970 (American Presidency Project)
  2. in 1906 an injustice was done in which land involved in this bill, 48,000 acres, was taken from the Indians involvedRighting a Wrong: The Return of Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo (National Archives)
  3. Alaska Natives received approximately 45 million acresAlaska Native Lands and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (CRS R46997)
  4. shared in a settlement payment of approximately $962.5 millionAlaska Native Lands and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (CRS R46997)
  5. assuring maximum Indian participation in the direction of educational as well as other Federal services25 U.S.C. 5302 (Indian Self-Determination Act policy)

Research notes. ANCSA acreage is given as approximately 45 million by CRS; other sources say up to 44 million, and the atlas ANCSA record uses 44 million. The era also included restoration of terminated tribes and other laws that were not verified here. Alaska Native corporations under ANCSA are a distinct legal arrangement, not tribal trust land.

Who is doing the work

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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Connections

These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Enacted in this era 37

Show all 37

Happened in this era 6

Sources

  1. text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2020/11/10/righting-a-wrong-the-return-of-blue-lake-to-theprimary record
  2. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/25/5301legal text copy
  3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_termination_policypointer
  4. everycrsreport.com/reports/R46997.htmlunclassified
The record’s fields
Key acts
Blue Lake return (signed Dec 15, 1970; 48,000 acres to Taos Pueblo); Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Dec 18, 1971; 85 Stat. 688); Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Pub. L. 93-638, Jan 4, 1975; 88 Stat. 2203); Indian Child Welfare Act 1978 and AIRFA 1978 (from-memory); Hodel v. Irving, 481 U.S. 704 (1987)
Effect on land
Blue Lake 48,000 acres returned; ANCSA about 45 million acres and about $962.5 million to Alaska Native corporations (commonly cited as 44 million acres); restored terminated tribes (Menominee 1973, Klamath 1986); ILCA escheat struck down (fractionation continues)
Kind
Policy era
Confidence
Medium

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