Acts of Congress


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Acts of Congress

In addition to treaties, which are ratified by the US Senate and signed by the US President, there were also Acts of Congress, Executive Orders and Agreements which dealt with land agreements.

The U.S. military and representatives of a tribe, or sub unit of a tribe, signed documents which were understood at the time to be treaties, rather than armistices, ceasefires and truces.

Treaty-making between various Native American governments and the United States officially concluded on March 3, 1871 with the passing of the United States Code Title 25, Chapter 3, Subchapter 1, Section 71 (25 U.S.C. § 71). Pre-existing treaties were grandfathered, and further agreements were made under domestic law.

How an Act of Congress Works

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. It can either be a Public Law, relating to the general public, or a Private Law, relating to specific institutions or individuals.

When the legislation of those two kinds is proposed, it is called public bill and private bill respectively.

An Act adopted by simple majorities in both houses of Congress is promulgated, or given the force of law, in one of the following ways:

Signature by the President of the United States

Inaction by the President after ten days from reception (excluding Sundays) while the Congress is in session, or reconsideration by the Congress after a presidential veto during its session. (A bill must receive a  2⁄3 majority vote in both houses to override a president’s veto.)

The President promulgates Acts of Congress made by the first two methods. If an Act is made by the third method, the presiding officer of the house that last reconsidered the act promulgates it.

Under the United States Constitution, if the President does not return a bill or resolution to Congress with objections before the time limit expires, then the bill automatically becomes an Act; however, if the Congress is adjourned at the end of this period, then the bill dies and cannot be reconsidered.

In addition, if the President rejects a bill or resolution while the Congress is in session, a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Congress is needed for reconsideration to be successful.

Promulgation in the sense of publishing and proclaiming the law is accomplished by the President, or the relevant presiding officer in the case of an overridden veto, delivering the act to the Archivist of the United States.

After the Archivist receives the Act, he or she provides for its publication as a slip law and in the United States Statutes at Large. Thereafter, the changes are published in the United States Code.

An Act of Congress that violates the Constitution may be declared unconstitutional by the courts. The judicial declaration of an Act’s unconstitutionality does not remove the law from the statute books; rather, it prevents the law from being enforced.

However, future publications of the Act are generally annotated with warnings indicating that the statute is no longer valid law.

Acts of Congress

Year
Date
Alternative Treaty Name
Statutes
Land Cession Reference (Royce Area)
Tribe(s)

1870
July 15

16 Stat. 359
650
Kickapoo of Texas and Mexico

1870
July 15

16 Stat. 362
534
Great and Little Osage

1870
July 15

16 Stat. 362
530
Great and Little Osage

1871
February 6

16 Stat. 404
403
Stockbridge and Munsee

1871
March 3
United States Code Title 25, Chapter 3, Subchapter 1, Section 71
16 Stat. 566

1871
March 3

16 Stat. 569
650
Kickapoo of Texas and Mexico

1872
April 23

17 Stat. 55
566
Ute

1872
May 8

17 Stat. 85

Kaw

1872
May 23

17 Stat. 159
506
Potawatomi and Absentee Shawnee

1872
May 29

17 Stat. 190

Lake Superior Chippewa

1872
May 29

17 Stat. 190

Cheyenne and Arapaho

1872
June 1

17 Stat. 213
256
Miami (Meshin-go-mesia’s band)

1872
June 5

17 Stat. 228
534
Great and Little Osage

1872
June 5

17 Stat. 228
535
Kaw

1872
June 5

17 Stat. 266

Flathead

1872
June 7

17 Stat. 281

Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux

1872
June 10

17 Stat. 381

Ottawa and Chippewa

1872
June 10

17 Stat. 388

Ottawa of Blanchards Fork and Roche de Boeuf

1872
June 10

17 Stat. 391

Omaha, Pawnee, Oto, Missouri, and Sac and Fox of the Missouri

1873
February 14

17 Stat. 456
538
Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux

1873
February 19

17 Stat. 466
249
New York Indians

1873
March 1

N/A
337
Lac Courte Oreille Band of Chippewa

1873
March 3

17 Stat. 539
542
Pembina Chippewa

1873
March 3
Abolish tribal relations
17 Stat. 631
330
Miami

1873
March 3

17 Stat. 633
543
Creek and Seminole

1873
March 3

17 Stat. 626
544, 583
Round Valley Indian Reservation

1873
March 3

17 Stat. 626

Crow

1874
April 15
Established reservation
18 Stat. 28
565
Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, River Crow

1874
April 29
Agreement of 18 Sept 1873 confirmed
18 Stat. 36
566
Ute

1874
May 26

N/A
567, 568
Pillager Chippewa

1874
June 22
Payment for land by 12 Sept 1854 Treaty
18 Stat. 140
569
L’Anse and Lac Vieux Desert Ojibwe

1874
June 22
Agreement of 26 Sept 1872 confirmed
18 Stat. 166
539
Shoshoni

1874
June 22
2nd payment re Acts of 1872 & 1873
18 Stat. 167
538
Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux

1874
June 22
Purchase of Land
18 Stat. 170
570
From Omaha for Winnegagoes

1874
June 22
Fund removal, as per Treaty 18 May 1854
18 Stat. 156

Kickapoo of Texas and Mexico

1874
June 23
Sale of lands per 1872 Act
18 Stat. 272

Kaw, “Kansas Indian” lands

1874
June 23
NA
18 Stat. 273 not in cite
572
Papago

1874
June 23
NA
18 Stat. 273 not in cite

New York Indians

1874
December 15
Treaty 3 July 1868 amended, land ceded
18 Stat. 291
539
Shoshoni

1875
March 3
Reduced reservation
18 Stat. 445
576, 577
Paiute

1875
March 3
Removed to new reservation
18 Stat. 446
578, 579
Alsea Indian Reservation, Siletz Indian Reservation

1875
March 3
Purchase land for
18 Stat. 447
580
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

1875
March 3
Agreement 23 June 1874 confirmed, Eastern Shawnee lands to Modoc
18 Stat. 447
571
Eastern Shawnee, Modoc

Year
Date
Alternative Treaty Name
Statutes
Land Cession Reference (Royce Area)
Tribe(s)

1880
June 15

N/A

Ute

1891
January 12

26 Stat. 712

Mission Indians

1891
February 13

26 Stat. 749

Sac and Fox

1891
March 3

26 Stat. 1016
506
Citizen Band of Potawatomi

1891
March 3

26 Stat. 1022
525
Cheyenne and Arapaho

1891
March 3

26 Stat. 1027
553
Coeur d’Alene

1891
March 3

26 Stat. 1032
712, 713
Gros Ventre and Mandan

1891
March 3

26 Stat. 1035
496
Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux

1891
March 13

26 Stat. 1016
506
Absentee Shawnee

1892
June 17

27 Stat. 52
400
Klamath River Indian Reservation

1892
July 1

27 Stat. 62
717, 718
Colville Indian Reservation

1892
July 13

27 Stat. 124
552
Coeur d’Alene

1892
July 13

27 Stat. 139
625
Spokane

1893
February 20

27 Stat. 469
720
White Mountain Apache

1893
March 3

27 Stat. 557
650
Kickapoo

1893
March 3

27 Stat. 640
289
Cherokee

1893
March 3

27 Stat. 643
606
Tonkawa

1893
March 3

27 Stat. 644
591
Pawnee

1894
June 6

28 Stat. 86
370
Warm Springs

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 314
411
Yankton Sioux

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 320
400
Yakima

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 332
552
Coeur d’Alene

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 320

Yakima

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 323
479
Alsea et al.

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 326
442
Nez Perce

1894
August 15

28 Stat. 332
652
Yuma

1904
April 21
Turtle Mountain Chippewa Treaty; 10-cent Treaty; Agreement with the Turtle Mountain Band, amended and ratified
33 Stat. 194

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians

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