Indian Sovereignty

Running head : Indian sovereignty

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Sovereignty can be viewed as the supreme power that allows a government to exercise authority over its subjects without interferences from any quarters . A sovereign state also enjoys special immunities by virtue of its position (Fletcher , 2005 . What Indian tribes have at their disposal is tribal sovereignty , by virtue of historical tribal powers . In a way , Indian tribes are sovereign , given that the federal government accords them immunity from laws and regulations that are applicable to other states

. Through this arrangement , the application of tribal laws by a recognized council of the tribes is mandated to govern these tribes

The federal government has not only been able to respect the self rule of Indians tribes , but has over the years entered into treaties and contracts , that allowed the native Indians to cede off some of the land while holding other land in reservation . This nation-within-nation arrangement has thus been able to accord the Indian tribes sovereignty Further , the supreme court , on its part has over the years recognized the treaties signed between the federal government and Indian tribes . It is through such treaties then , that the Indian tribes were able to give up some of their land , in return for protection from the federal government , an arrangement in itself that can be viewed as one undertaken by two sovereign nations (Fletcher , 2005

However , such an arrangement does not mean that a weaker nation , in this case Indian tribes , has lost its sovereignty to a stronger nation in this case the United States , through cessation agreements and treaties . The conclusions of Thomson 's tests are thus based on the premise that since Cherokee Indians have continued to exercise authority over the reminder of their territory , even after ceding a larger portion to the United States government , they still form a sovereign state arguments which have been echoed by the Hopewell treaty (Miles , 1973 His arguments were also based on the fact that past and present constitutions recognised them as being sovereign

References

Fletcher , M . L . M (2005 . Bringing balance to Indian gaming . Harvard journal on legislation , 44 , 4 - 7

Miles , E . A (1973 . After John Marshall 's decision : Worcester v Georgia and the nullification crisis . Journal of southern history , 39 (4 , 519 - 544

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