Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act

What happened

Public Law 103-116, signed October 27, 1993, settled the land claims of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina. Its findings tell the history. In treaties with the Crown in 1760 and 1763, the Tribe ceded "vast portions of its aboriginal territory" in return for guarantees of being settled on a 144,000-acre reservation. The Tribe's suit said that in 1840 it and the State made an agreement, without Federal approval, giving up that reservation. In 1959, after the Catawba Tribe of South Carolina Division of Assets Act, the Tribe's trust relationship was ended. The findings say the Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that the 1959 Act meant State statutes of limitations applied to the claim.

At the time of the Act, a lawsuit was pending "disputing ownership of approximately 140,000 acres of land," and Congress said the cases had caused hardship for landowners and "further litigation against tens of thousands of landowners would be likely."

Section 4 states that "the trust relationship between the Tribe and the United States is restored," and Section 4(c) repeals the Termination Act. Section 6 ratifies prior transfers and extinguishes aboriginal title and related claims. Section 5 authorizes $32,000,000 as the Federal share; the Act refers to $50,000,000 total from Federal, State, local and private parties. Section 12 provides for an expanded reservation beyond the existing reservation of about 630 acres.

The Act says it does not give the Tribe special jurisdiction beyond what the Act and a State act provide.

Good to know. The $50 million is the total from all parties; the federal share was $32 million.

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