Tribal council (United States)
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A tribal council is the governing body for certain Native American tribes within the United States.
Many sovereign American Indian nations in the United States organize their governments through elected tribal councils.
The Navajo Nation are formally governed by the Navajo Tribal Council, known today as the Navajo Nation Council.[citation needed] The Crow Tribe of Montana is governed by the Crow Tribal Council, comprised of three governmental branches, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.[1]
The term usually describes the governing body of a federally recognized tribe. These often control lands known as Indian reservations, although some tribes have more than one and many have none. Federally recognized tribes in the United States are considered "domestic dependent nations", and they have sovereign status somewhat comparable to the individual American states, in that they fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government but not under individual states.
Different tribes may choose governance structures for themselves, but most tribes have adopted democratic governments in which a Tribal Council or the equivalent functions as a legislative body and an elected or appointed Chairman has an executive role comparable to a President or Prime Minister. On a few American Indian reservations such as the Hopi Reservation and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) reservations, a U.S.-recognized and -funded, democratically-elected tribal government operates in parallel, and in some cases, in conflict with, the nation's traditionalist governance.
Many tribes drafted their constitutions and organized their tribal councils under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and the 1936 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, part of the Indian New Deal.[2] Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, as Native American self-determination gained momentum, many tribes amended or drafted new constitutions and reformed their tribal council structures.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "Crow Nation". Indian Affairs. Office of the Governor, Montana. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Tribal Governments". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
See also
[edit]- Cherokee Nation Tribal Council
- Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council
- Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
- Inter-tribal Council of Michigan
- Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
- Navajo Nation Council
- Siletz Tribal Council
- Williamsburg Tribal Council
External links
[edit]- Native American Rights Fund
- Tribal Leaders Directory, U.S. Department of the Interior