[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 192 (Thursday, December 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E3030-E3031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE ONEIDA TRIBE OF INDIANS OF WISCONSIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE KAGEN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 16, 2009

  Mr. KAGEN. Madam Speaker, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin is 
sovereign government with a long and proud history of self-government. 
We are a federally recognized treaty tribe of the United States. We 
have faced threats and continue to face

[[Page E3031]]

threats to our homelands. The Oneida have persevered in the face of 
adversity for centuries, and we proudly and passionately continue to 
protect and preserve our homelands.
  The Oneidas, along with the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga 
comprised the original Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy that 
dates back to the 1500s, which later became the Six Nations when the 
Tuscarora joined in the 1700s. The Iroquois held millions of acres of 
land in what is now the State of New York, which entered statehood in 
1776.
  During the Revolutionary War, the Oneida and the Tuscarora supported 
the colonies and served in General George Washington's army. For this 
service, our lands were to be protected forever, a promise reflected in 
the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the Oneida and United States.
  The 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix was the first treaty between the 
Oneida and United States that established peace between the Iroquois 
Confederacy and the colonial states, which operated under the Articles 
of Confederation at the time. This treaty of peace established the 
government-to-government relationship between the Oneida Tribe and the 
United States that continues to exist today.
  Through the 1785 Treaty of Fort Herkimer and the 1788 Treaty of Fort 
Schuyler with the State of New York, the Oneida lost more than 5 
million acres of their ancestral homelands to the State of New York.
  In 1789, the States ratified the United States Constitution, which 
declared treaties of the United States to be the law of the land. The 
United States adopted the Non-Intercourse Act of 1793, which prohibited 
the purchase of any Indian land by any person or entity without the 
Federal Government's approval.
  In spite of the Non-Intercourse Act, the State of New York continued 
to enter into a series of land transactions between 1795 and 1846 with 
the Oneida in direct violation of Federal law. These land transactions 
continued to deplete the Oneida land holdings in New York until only 32 
acres remained in Oneida possession by the 1820s.
  During the 1820s, Oneidas relocated to what would become the State of 
Wisconsin to establish new homelands. The Oneidas purchased 5 million 
acres of land from the Winnebago and Menominee Tribes for the purpose 
of preserving sovereignty as a self-governing sovereign nation. This 
band of Oneidas became recognized as the Oneida Tribe of Indians of 
Wisconsin, who entered their final treaty with the United States in 
1838, 10 years before Wisconsin entered statehood.
  The Treaty of 1838 between the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin 
and the United States established the present day Oneida Reservation 
boundaries located in northeast Wisconsin and comprised of 65,430 
acres. To the present day, the Oneida Reservation has not been 
diminished or disestablished by an Act of Congress and our reservation 
boundaries as established by treaty continue to exist under the full 
force and effect of Federal law and the United States Constitution.
  The Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 enacted by Congress was the next 
challenge of maintaining our homelands. Our lands were divided into 
individual parcels that resulted in a significant loss of tribal land 
ownership because our members did not understand the English language 
and did not understand land taxation. Consequently, tribal land 
ownership was reduced to a few thousand acres within the Oneida 
Reservation boundaries.
  The Dawes Allotment Act and the loss of tribal land ownership were 
ended when Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, IRA. 
The Federal policy of the IRA was to recognize and strengthen the 
authority and autonomy of tribal governments, and implicit in the 
recognition of tribal authority is a tribe's right of self-government. 
The IRA provided the foundation for adopting a tribal constitution that 
would govern tribal members.
  In 1936, the Oneida membership adopted the Oneida Constitution that 
established an elected governing body for the Oneida membership. Upon 
adoption of the Oneida Constitution, the United States Federal 
Government purchased 1,270 acres of land within the Oneida Reservation 
and placed that land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Tribe.
  Since passage of the IRA, the Oneida Tribe has taken the initiative 
to actively acquire ownership of land within the Oneida Reservation 
boundaries, and to provide for its membership through governmental 
programs and services that meet the needs of the people. More 
importantly, the Oneida Tribe has strengthened its authority by the 
adoption, implementation and enforcement of tribal laws. The Oneida 
Tribe preserves its sovereignty by exercising the inherent right of 
self-government over our lands and members within the Oneida 
Reservation boundaries.
  Among the most significant of our continuing initiatives is the 
Oneida Land Claim and the resolution of that claim. The Oneida Land 
Claim is the oldest and largest land claim in the United States. Oneida 
has twice prevailed before the Federal courts, most recently in 1985 
when the United States Supreme Court recognized the Oneida's rightful 
claim against the State of New York for its violations of Federal law 
more than 200 years ago.
  The Oneida Tribe entered into treaties with the United States that 
are recognized as the law of the land under the United States 
Constitution. Federal law, United States Supreme Court decisions and 
Federal Indian policy recognize the treaty obligations of the Federal 
Government to the federally-recognized tribes of the United States. The 
Oneida treaties also established the government-to-government 
relationship between the Oneida Tribe and the United States, and form 
the basis for the Federal trust responsibility that is also recognized 
by Federal law, United States Supreme Court decisions and Federal 
Indian policy.
  The Oneida Land Claim is deeply intertwined with the history of the 
United States. We have strived to resolve this claim through continued 
negotiation and mediation and will continue to do so as a means to 
protect and preserve our Tribal homelands. The Oneida will continue to 
act in an honorable manner to resolve the land claim that allows the 
United States, under the Federal trust responsibility owed to the 
Oneida Tribe by virtue of our treaties with the United States, to right 
the wrongs of the past that continue to exist today.

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