Title: Tribal Sovereignty: History and the Law - Native American Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Headings: 
Constitutional Law and Legal Precedent
Sovereignty as a Retained Right
Tribes and the Federal Government
The Cornerstones of Tribal Self-Government

Content: Newcomers to America sat down with tribes like the Algonquian and learned the concept of group meetings which the Algonquians called “caucuses.” The U.S. Constitution recognized tribal governments and, starting with Thomas Jefferson, America’s founding fathers pledged that their sovereignty was to be protected. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized tribal sovereignty in court decisions for more than 150 years. In 1831, the Supreme Court agreed, in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, that Indian nations had the full legal right to manage their own affairs, govern themselves internally, and engage in legal and political relationships with the federal government and its subdivisions. In 1942 Supreme Court Justice Felix Cohen wrote, “Indian sovereignty is the principle that those powers which are lawfully vested in an Indian tribe, are notÉdelegated powers granted by express acts of Congress, but rather inherent powers of a limited sovereignty which can never be extinguished.” Today, 200 years later, tribal governments still exist for the same reasons they were originally founded: To provide for the welfare of the Indian people. Tribal governments build and maintain services like water, roads, waste disposal, emergency assistance, law enforcement, and transportation. Like the United States government, tribal government leaders are charged with protecting and developing an economic base. Like state, federal and local governments, tribal governments work to preserve and encourage culture and to support higher education.