An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States Ortiz

The Doctrine of Discovery 215

INDIGENOUS GOVERNANCE

For generations, Native nations, occasionally with the help of fe d­
eral or state government, treated the symptoms of colonialism. But
with the powerful Indigenous self-determination movements of the
second half of the twentieth century, those nations participated in
drafting and instituting new international law that supports their
aspirations, and they began working on shoring up their sovereignty
through governance. Through this work, US Indigenous peoples
have reconceptualized their current forms of government based on
new constitutions that reflect their specific cultures. Navajo think­
ing on a future constitution expresses that desire. Like some other
Native nations, the Navajo, the most populous and the one holding
the largest land base in the United States, has never had a constitu­
tion. But others do have constitutions similar to that of the United
States. Nearly sixty Native nations adopted constitutions before
193 4· Following the Indian Reorganization Act of that year, another
130 nations wrote constitutions according to federal guidelines but
without significant participation of their citizenry. 34 The movement
to create, revise, or rewrite constitutions has seen notable success
in two instances during the first decade of the twenty-first century.
From 2004 to 2006 the Osage Nation, located in northeastern
Oklahoma, engaged in a contentious process of reform that pro­
duced a new constitution. The preamble reflects the extraordinary
context and content of the new law:

We the Wah-zha-zhe, known as the Osage People, having

formed as Clans in the far distant past, have been a People and

as a People have walked this earth and enjoyed the blessing of

Wah-kon-tah for more centuries than we truly know.

Having resolved to live in harmony, we now come together

so that we may once more unite as a Nation and as a Peo­

ple, calling upon the fundamental values that we hold sacred:

Justice, Fairness, Compassion, Respect for and Protection of

Child, Elder, All Fellow Beings, and Self.

Paying homage to generations of Osage leaders of the past