HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMlTTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE, ONE HUNDREDTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
ON S. Con. Res. 76
DECEMBER 2, 1987
To acknowledge the contribution of the Iruquois Confederacy of Nation
the development of the United States Constitution and to reaffirm
the continuing government-to-government relationship between tribes
and the United States established in the Constitution.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNlTED STATES
September 16, 1987
Mr Inouye (for himself, Mr, Evans, Mr DeConcini, Mr. Burdick,
Mr McCain, Mr. Adams, Mr Boren, Mr Conrad, Mr Cranston, Mr
D'Amato, Mr Dole, Mr Ford, Mr Fowler, Mr Levin, Mr Pell, Mr
Pryor, Mr Reid, Mr Riegle, and Mr Stafford) submitted the following
conurrent resolution; which was referred to the Select Committee on
Indian Affairs.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of
Nations to the development of the United States Constition
and to reafirm the continuing government-to-gavernment
relationship between Indian tribes and the United States
established in the Constitution.
Whereas the original famers of the Constitution, including most
notably, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, are
known to have, greatly admired the concepts, principles and
government practices of the Six Nationa of the Iroquois
Confederacy and,
Whereas the contutition of the original Thirteen Colonies into
one republic was explicitly modeled upon th Iroquois
Confederacy as were many of the democratic principles which
were incorporated into the Constitution itself; and,
Whereas since the formation of the United states, the Congress
has recognized the sovereign status of Indian tribes, and
has, through the exercise of powers reserved to the Federal
Government in the Commerce Clause of the Connstitution
(art. I s8, oI.9), dealt with Indian Tribes on a government
to-government basis and has, through the treaty clause (art.
62, Cl.a) entered into three hundred and Seventy treaties
with Indian tribal nations; and,
Whereas from the first treaty entered into with an Indian
nation, the treaty with the Delaware Indian of September
17, 1778, and thereafter in every Indain treaty until the
cessation of treatymaking in 1871, the Congress has assumed
a trust resonsiblity and obligation to Indian tribes
and their members to "exercise the utmost good faith in
dealings with the Indians" as provided for in tha Northwest
Ordinance of 1787, (l Stat: 50); and,
Whereas Congress has consistently reaffimed these fundamental
polices over the past two hundred years througth legislation
specifically designed to honor this special relatiodship; and,
Whereas, the judicial system of the United States has consistently
recognized and reaffirmed this special relationship:
Now. therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of
Representatives Concurring), That
(1) the Congress, on the occasion of the two hundredreth anniversary of
the signing of the United States Constitution, acknowledges the
historical debt which this Republic of the United States of America
owes to the Iroquois Confedaracy and other Indian Nations for their
demonstration of enlightened, democratic principals of Government
and their example of a free association independent Indian Nations;
(2) the Congrees also hereby reaffirms the constitutionship recognized
government-to-government relationship with Indian tribes which has
historically been the cornerstone of this Nation's Indian policy;
(3) the Congress specifically acknowledges and reaffirms the responsiblity
and obligation of the United States Governments to Indian tribes,
including Alaskan Natives, for thier preservation, protection and
enhancement, including the provision of health, education, social
and economic assistance programs as necessary to assist tribes to
perform their governmental reponsibility to provide for the social and
economic wellbeing of their members and to preserve tribal cultural
identity and heritage; and
(4) the Congress also acknowledges the need to exercise the utmost good
faith in upholding its treaties with the various tribes, as the tribes
understood them to be, and the duty of a great Nation to uphold its
legal and moral obligation for the benefit of all its citizens so that
they and their posterity may also continue to enjoy the rights they
have enshrined in the United States Consitution for time immemorial.
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