American Indian children celebrate the strawberry festival.

American Indian children celebrate the strawberry festival.

Encourages awareness and appreciation of Native American cultures.

Two families—one that is perfect and one that is far from it—celebrate Thanksgiving in their own loving ways.

When Strawberry Shortcake invites her friends for dinner, they all stop to be grateful for food and friendship and more.

The arrival of European and Euro-American colonizers in the Americas brought not only physical attacks against Native American tribes, but also further attacks against the sovereignty of these Indian nations. Though the violent tales of the Trail of Tears, Black Hawk's War, and the Battle of Little Big Horn are taught far and wide, the political structure and development of Native American tribes, and the effect of American domination on Native American sovereignty, have been greatly neglected. This book contains a variety of primary source and other documents--traditional accounts, tribal constitutions, legal codes, business councils, rules and regulations, BIA agents reports, congressional discourse, intertribal compacts--written both by Natives from many different nations and some non-Natives, that reflect how indigenous peoples continued to exercise a significant measure of self-determination long after it was presumed to have been lost, surrendered, or vanquished. The documents are arranged chronologically, and Wilkins provides brief, introductory essays to each document, placing them within the proper context. Each introduction is followed by a brief list of suggestions for further reading. Covering a fascinating and relatively unknown period in Native American history, from the earliest examples of indigenous political writings to the formal constitutions crafted just before the American intervention of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, this anthology will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the political development of indigenous peoples the world over.

The Iroquois Constitution was created in the late sixteenth century to bring peace and unity to five—and later, six—warring Iroquois nations. But how was this understanding reached? What were its specific conditions? And did it affect later political documents in the United States? Read about the legacy of the Iroquois Constitution and how its influence can still be felt today.