Indian Claims Commission
The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) was established by the U.S. Congress in 1946 to address land and financial claims made by Native American tribes against the federal government. Prior to its creation, Native Americans faced significant legal barriers, including a lack of recognized property rights and governmental sovereignty immunity, which prevented them from suing the government. The ICC aimed to provide a means for tribes to seek compensation for historical grievances, operating under a framework that emphasized fairness and uniformity over legal complexities.
The commission had the authority to award monetary settlements but could not restore land, and tribes were required to relinquish their rights to future claims upon acceptance of an award. While the ICC rendered 546 decisions and distributed over $818 million in judgments by the time it was disbanded in 1978, many Native Americans felt that these settlements were insufficient. The process of filing claims also prompted tribes to engage in legal advocacy and research, but concerns arose regarding its implications on the federal trust relationship with tribes. Overall, the ICC's legacy remains a subject of debate, highlighting both the benefits and limitations of its efforts to redress historical injustices experienced by Native American communities.
Indian Claims Commission
Identification Federal agency concerned with Native American legal suits
Date August 13, 1946-September 30, 1978
The Indian Claims Commission was a three-person panel authorized to hear and resolve Native Americans’ suits against the federal government, involving issues including treaty violations, inadequate payment for land, and mismanagement of tribal funds, among others.
Before 1946, Native American tribes and bands generally had no right to sue the U.S. government, for two reasons. First, Native American possession of land was not recognized as a compensable property right under the Fifth Amendment. Second, the doctrine of sovereignty immunity prohibits suits against the government without its permission. During the 1930’s, efforts to persuade Congress to authorize tribal suits were unsuccessful, but the contributions of Native American soldiers in World War II increased public sympathy for such legislation.
In voting to create the Indian Claims Commission (ICC), members of Congress were motivated by a variety of considerations. Many liberals felt a strong sense of guilt concerning the government’s historical treatment of Native Americans. Others, in the light of Cold War propaganda, believed it was important to improve the country’s treatment of minority groups. In addition, some conservative members hoped to settle long-standing claims as a necessary step toward terminating the federal government’s trust relationship with the tribes.
The act creating the ICC passed on August 13, 1946, authorized settlement of claims by an appointed commission rather than the federal courts in order to provide national uniformity and to emphasize fairness over legal technicalities. The commission was given broad authority to provide monetary compensation, but it had no power to return any land. In calculating the size of awards, the commission did not pay interest, and it reduced payments by “gratuitous offsets” in recognition of past governmental services that had been provided. By accepting a monetary settlement, the aggrieved tribe abdicated all rights to raise the claim in the future. Native American plaintiffs were required to assume the burden of proof and to pay attorney fees as well as the costs for historical research.
Lawyers in the U.S. Department of Justice were given the job of defending the government’s position in each claim, and because of the large amounts of money often involved, they typically conducted a vigorous defense. Many of the cases involved complex legal issues, and the available historical evidence was often weak. Settlements, therefore, tended to require long periods of time—sometimes twenty or more years.
The statute creating the ICC required the tribes to register their claims within five years, and the vast majority of the 176 recognized tribes filed at least one claim prior to the deadline. About two-thirds of the claims were land claims, and most of the others dealt with mismanagement of trust funds or natural resources. Although the ICC was expected to operate for only ten years, Congress extended its life several times. By the time it was adjourned in 1978, the ICC had rendered verdicts in 546 cases, with awards of $818,172,606 in judgments. The awards ranged from a few thousand dollars to $31 million. Records of the completed hearings filled more than forty large volumes.
About 170 cases remained unsettled when Congress adjourned the ICC through Public Law 94-465. These cases were transferred to the U.S. Court of Claims on September 30, 1978, for adjudication.
Impact
Scholars disagree about whether the work of the ICC was an adequate attempt to redress historical injustices. The awards provided many Native Americans with needed funds, even though almost all recipients considered the amounts to be insufficient. Because payments were distributed to individuals rather than to tribal governments, the awards had limited effects on tribes’ long-term financial stability. From the experience of filing claims, many Native Americans learned the potential benefits of seeking legal redress. The commission hearings, moreover, required historical and anthropological research that later would be useful in suits against state and local governments. From the Native American perspective, one negative consequence of the ICC was its encouragement of movement in the direction of terminating the government’s trust relationship with the tribes.
Bibliography
Lieden, Michael, and Jake Page. Wild Justice: People of Geronimo v. the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
Lurie, Nancy O. “The Indian Claims Commission.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 436 (1978): 97-110.
Rosenthal, Harvey. Their Day in Court: A History of the Indian Claims Commission. New York: Garland, 1990.
Washburn, Wilcomb. Red Man’s Land/White Man’s Law. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.