[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1736 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1736

To require that a commemorative postage stamp be issued recognizing the 
  courage of the American Indian at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2001

Mr. Traficant introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require that a commemorative postage stamp be issued recognizing the 
  courage of the American Indian at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty guaranteed to the Sioux 
        Indians exclusive possession of the area in South Dakota west 
        of the Missouri River;
            (2) gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota 
        in the mid-1870s, and thousands of miners, choosing to 
        disregard the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, began to settle the 
        Sioux's territory, provoking them to defend their land;
            (3) unwilling to remove the settlers and being unable to 
        purchase the land, the United States Government issued an order 
        to the Indian agencies that all Indians return to their 
        designated reservations by January 31, 1876, or be deemed 
        hostile;
            (4) on June 25, 1876, the Sioux Indians, led by Chief 
        Sitting Bull, were camped in the valley of the Little Bighorn 
        River and were joined by 3,000 more Sioux, Cheyenne, and 
        Arapaho warriors; they were attacked by the 7th Calvary, led by 
        General George Armstrong Custer; the Indians surrounded the 7th 
        Calvary and killed all 210 soldiers, including General Custer; 
        and
            (5) the Battle of the Little Big Horn has been recognized 
        as one of the single greatest victories won by the American 
        Indian, and the attack led by General Custer was one of the 
        greatest fiascoes the United States Army has ever been forced 
        to endure.

SEC. 2. COMMEMORATIVE STAMP.

    The Postmaster General shall take such measures as may be necessary 
to provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp 
recognizing the courage of the American Indian at the Battle of the 
Little Big Horn.
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