I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5403
To restore Federal recognition to the Miami Nation of Indiana.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 5, 2000
Mr. SOUDER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To restore Federal recognition to the Miami Nation of
Indiana.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Miami Nation of Indi-
ana Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Miami Nation of Indians of the State
of Indiana, Inc., an Indian nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-
exempt corporation, is the modern day governing
body of the Miami Nation of Indiana, also known as
the Miami Indians of Indiana or the Indiana Miamis
(collectively referred to herein as the ‘‘Miamis’’),
which is the descendant of, and the political suc-
cessor to, the signatory of the Treaty of 1854 (10
Stat. 1093).
(2) Historically, the Miamis lived in northern
and central Indiana.
(3) Between 1795 and 1840, the Miamis en-
tered into a number of treaties with the United
States ceding millions of acres of land to the Federal
Government.
(4) In some of those treaties, tracts of land
were reserved for individual tribal members or for
bands of Miamis.
(5) The 1840 Treaty required all members of
the Miamis to remove from Indiana to territory west
of the Mississippi River but the Miamis strongly re-
sisted removal to the Kansas Territory.
(6) In early 1846, the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs ordered annuity payments withheld until the
Miamis were removed, and thereafter about one-half
of the Miamis were forcibly removed to the Kansas
Territory.
(7) After this emigration, some of the Miamis
resided in the Kansas Territory and some of the Mi-
amis resided in Indiana.
(8) In 1854, the Federal Government entered
into treaty negotiations with the Miamis who re-
mained in Indiana and thereby recognized them as
a separate Indian tribe—the Indiana Miamis.
(9) Congress subsequently enacted legislation
specifically concerning treaties with the Indiana Mi-
amis on a government-to-government basis and ex-
tended the Federal trust relationship to the Indiana
Miamis.
(10) In 1897, the Secretary of the Interior,
based on an opinion by then Assistant Attorney
General Willis Van Devanter, withdrew the acknowl-
edgement of the Indiana Miamis as a federally rec-
ognized Indian tribe.
(11) Congress has never terminated the Indiana
Miamis or authorized the Secretary of the Interior
to terminate the Indiana Miamis, as a result of
which the 1897 administrative termination by the
Secretary of the Interior was ultra vires and of no
effect.
(12) Tribes elsewhere, including the Miami
Tribe of Oklahoma, at Miami, Oklahoma, received
services from the Federal Government and were ex-
tended benefits of the Indian Reorganization Act (25
U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
(13) In spite of the denial of recognition and
the right to organize under the Indian Reorganiza-
tion Act (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Indiana Mi-
amis have continued to carry out governmental func-
tions through a tribal council from the treaty times
through the present day.
(14) In 1990, the Department of the Interior
admitted that the opinion of Attorney General Van
Devanter was incorrect and that the trust relation-
ship with the Indiana Miamis was wrongfully termi-
nated, but nothing has been done to remedy the
error.
(15) For more than 100 years there has been
administrative neglect, violation of treaty and statu-
tory obligations of trusteeship, and misapplication of
Federal law and regulations with regard to the Indi-
ana Miamis.
(16) The injustice to the Indiana Miamis de-
scribed in this section should be corrected and their
dignity and self-esteem, individually and collectively,
should be returned by restoration of Federal rec-
ognition to the Indiana Miamis.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the Miami Nation
of Indiana.
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(3) The term ‘‘member’’ means an individual
who meets the membership criteria of the tribe.
(4) The term ‘‘State’’ means the State of Indi-
ana.
(5) The term ‘‘reservation’’ means those lands
acquired and held in trust by the Secretary for the
benefit of the Tribe.
(6) The term ‘‘service area’’ means the State of
Indiana.
SEC. 4. RESTORATION OF FEDERAL RECOGNITION, RIGHTS,
AND PRIVILEGES.
(a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.—Federal recognition is
hereby restored to the Tribe. Except as otherwise provided
in this Act, all laws and regulations of general application
to Indians and nations, tribes, or bands of Indians that
are not inconsistent with any specific provision of this Act
shall be applicable to the Tribe and its members.
(b) RESTORATION OF RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.—
Except as provided in subsection (d), all rights and privi-
leges of the Tribe and its members under any Federal