Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act

What happened

In the 1970s the Narragansett Tribe sued to recover ancestral land in Rhode Island. As the Supreme Court later described it, the Tribe claimed the State had misappropriated its territory in violation of the Indian Non-Intercourse Act, 25 U.S.C. 177. The claims were resolved by an act of Congress approved September 30, 1978.

The Act approved the transfers at issue. It provided that land transfers by or on behalf of Indians in Rhode Island "shall be deemed to have been made in accordance with the Constitution and all laws of the United States," including the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790, and that Congress "does hereby approve any such transfer." To the extent aboriginal title was involved, that approval was treated as extinguishing it, and it barred related claims.

In return, Carcieri v. Salazar (2009) describes the settlement this way: "the Tribe received title to 1,800 acres of land in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in exchange for relinquishing its past and future claims to land based on aboriginal title." The Tribe also agreed that the land would be subject to the civil and criminal laws and jurisdiction of the State of Rhode Island.

The Tribe gained formal federal recognition in 1983, and the Secretary of the Interior accepted a deed of trust to the 1,800 acres in 1988. A later fight over an additional 31-acre parcel reached the Supreme Court, which held that the Secretary lacked authority to take it into trust.

Good to know. The Act describes about 900 acres of private settlement lands plus public lands; the 1,800-acre total comes from the Supreme Court's description in Carcieri.

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