From Separate to Subject: Race, American Indian Policy and the Construction Federal Control.

The recognized indigenous communities in the U.S. occupy a peculiar position in the constitutional order. They inhabit a separate legal space from non-indigenous citizens. Indianness constitutes a legal status defined primarily by membership within a political community. Those who are ascribed this status become peculiar citizens in particular communities. The communities are given a measure of independence from local state interference, but their regulatory, legislative, and adjudicative authority is restricted by racially defined criteria of membership. This paper provides an account of the development of plenary capacity over the nations, and thereby explores the shift in their position in the Constitutional order, from separate nations to controlled communities under U.S. tutelage. I locate and examine the shift in Indian policy from federal control over intercourse with the indigenous peoples to an active role in shaping, organizing and disorganizing indigenous communities. The argument is made that racial policy prescriptions required policymakers to identify the ‘Indian’ as a legal object. Indian policy became inextricably tied to a legal identification of the ‘Indian,’ a process that has persisted into the present day. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]