Brothertown submitted its first petition of intent that year to gain federal recognition as a tribe, in order to be able to provide for people who live away from their small reservation, as well as to have status among federally recognized tribes. They want to establish historical records for their people as well. They contend they have maintained cultural identity and continuity, as well as political government. In 1993 the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) acknowledged that the Brothertown Indians had been recognized as a sovereign tribe by the federal government in provisos to treaties of 1831 and 1832, and in the 1839 act granting them citizenship and allocation of lands in Wisconsin. The Office of the Solicitor of the Department of Interior confirmed in writing to the tribe that the Brothertown Indian Nation was eligible to petition the BIA for federal recognition, a process that the tribe has been pursuing. Had Congress's granting of citizenship status stripped the Brothertown Indian Nation of its federal acknowledgment in 1839, the tribe would have been deemed ineligible for the BIA's federal acknowledgment process (25 CFR sec. 83), and only an act of Congress could give the tribe federal acknowledgment. Based on the BIA's ruling, the Brothertown Indians spent several years compiling the data required to petition for federal recognition from the Department of Interior's BIA and submitted a detailed petition in 2005. In 2009, the Brothertown Indians were notified by the BIA of the preliminary finding that they did not satisfy five of the seven criteria for recognition. More importantly, the BIA reinterpreted its 1993 policy memo, and said in a press release that the tribe lost its federal status by the 1839 Congressional act: In September 2012, in the final determination on the Brothertown petition, the acting Assistant Secretary determined that the group previously had a relationship with the United States, but had its tribal status terminated by an 1839 Act of Congress. Because Brothertown could not satisfy one of the seven mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment, the Department did not look to the other criteria in making its final determination. The acting Assistant Secretary noted that only Congress may restore the tribal status of Brothertown and thus its government-to-government relationship with the United States. The Brothertown Council and Recognition/Restoration committee have developed a strategic plan to lobby politicians from the local town level up through Congress to regain tribal status.