American Indian treaties in the Courts of Claims: A guide to treaty citations from opinions of the United States Courts of Claims

Since 1855, the federal Courts of Claims have provided relief for citizens in cases against the United States. President Abraham Lincoln, in his first annual message in 1861, declared his support for such a process: “It is as much the duty of government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer the same between private individuals” [Message of the President. (1862). Appendix to The Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2d session, 3 December 1861, p. 2].     

American Indian treaties and the lower federal courts: A guide to treaty citations from opinions of the lower United States federal court system

In a previous study, it was found that 209 of 375 recognized American Indian treaties have been cited in opinions of the United States Supreme Court (Bernholz, 2004). This guide now identifies – through 246 citations from 142 cases between the years 1863 and 2005 – 85 treaties found only in opinions of the lower Federal Court system. In addition, this investigation uncovered another treaty referenced by the Supreme Court. The remaining 80 instruments have not appeared in opinions of the federal courts (4, 5 and 7).     

Loci sigilli and American Indian treaties: Reflections on the creation of volume 2 of Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties

The presence–or absence–of locus sigilli “[L.S.]” or “[SEAL]” indicators, to validate the signatures in those texts of American Indian treaties collated by Charles J. Kappler in his Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, is examined. The results of this inquiry suggest that Kappler spent far more time examining the original treaty documents than Deloria and DeMallie proposed in their Documents of American Indian Diplomacy: Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775–1979.     

Standardized American Indians: The “Names of Indian tribes and bands” list from the Office of Indian Affairs

The inconsistent spelling of American Indian tribal names at the end of the nineteenth century led in part to the development within the Office of Indian Affairs of an array of 270 standardized identifiers, ranging from Absaroka to Zuñi. These efforts paralleled the simultaneous improvement of a large suite of relevant terms by the United States Board on Geographic Names. Both compilations were included in style manuals published by the Government Printing Office beginning in 1900 and approved for the use of federal agencies. In 1903 and 1904, Charles J. Kappler, in the preparation of his multi-volume Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, made particular use of this orthography when he created new individual titles for the recognized treaties between the federal government and the Indian Nations. Even with these coordinated attempts, however, versions of the “Names of Indian tribes and bands” register during the last century suffered both exclusions from, and an addition to, the original document from the Office of Indian Affairs.     

The annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: Revisiting the key to the United States Congressional Serial Set, 1824–1920

The Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the years 1824 through 1920, described the interactions between the American Indian tribes and the federal government. J. A. Jones (Jones, J. A. (1955). Key to the annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Ethnohistory, 2, 58–64). Provided a key to these documents found in the United States Congressional Serial Set, but this tool contained a number of errors. This article provides a fresh look at this key, with particular focus upon the availability of these materials through the Readex Serial Set digital collection.