Concept demo by Wiyaka Studios. This Nation and all content are fictional. What this is

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A water main break on Council Loop Road has placed the Cottonwood Bend water system under a boil water advisory. Boil water for one minute before drinking, cooking or mixing formula. Bottled water is available free at the Community Center, 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Read the full advisory

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Tribal Nation
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The sun setting over open prairie, with a low line of trees along the horizon.

Tribal Government

How our government is organized, when it meets, and how an enrolled member takes part in it.

How our government works

The Nation governs itself under a Constitution adopted by its members. Authority rests with the General Council, all enrolled members aged 18 and over, which delegates day-to-day governing authority to an elected Tribal Council.

Tribal Council

Seven members: a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer elected at large, and three Council Members elected from districts. Terms are four years and staggered, so roughly half the seats are up at each election.

Council holds a regular monthly meeting on the second Monday at 9:00 am in Council Chambers, open to enrolled members. Special sessions are called as needed and are posted at the Administration Building and on this website.

General Council

The General Council meets at least twice a year and may be called into special session by petition of fifty enrolled members. This is where the whole membership speaks directly, and where the largest decisions are brought: constitutional amendments, land sales and major settlements.

Tribal Court

The Tribal Court is independent of Council. The Chief Judge is appointed by Council to a fixed term and may be removed only for cause after a hearing. The Court hears civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile matters arising on Tribal land.

How to take part

  • Attend. Council meetings are open. You do not need a reason or an invitation.
  • Get on the agenda. Contact the Secretary’s office by the Thursday before a regular meeting.
  • Read the minutes. Approved minutes are posted to the Documents page within ten business days of approval.
  • Vote. Register with the Election Board. Keep your address current with the Enrollment Office. Ballots are mailed to the address on file and are not forwarded.
  • Run. Candidate filing opens ninety days before each election. Any enrolled member aged 25 or over who meets the residency requirement may file.

How our government took its present form

Our Council, our Constitution and our courts did not appear out of nowhere. Each was shaped by an era of federal Indian policy, and every Tribal Nation in the country lived through the same six.

  1. 1778-1871

    Treaties

    The United States dealt with Tribes as sovereign nations and signed nearly 400 treaties. Congress ended treaty making in 1871, but the treaties already signed remain binding law.

    In this Nation: Our people signed a treaty recognizing a homeland far larger than what we hold now. We still hold the United States to it.

  2. 1830s-1880s

    Removal and reservations

    Federal policy moved Tribes off their homelands and confined them to reservations, often far from the country they came from.

    In this Nation: Our reservation was drawn, then cut down, and land was opened to settlement. We did not leave the creek.

  3. 1887-1934

    Allotment and assimilation

    The General Allotment Act of 1887 broke communal land into individual parcels and sold the rest as surplus. Tribal landholdings fell from about 138 million acres to roughly 48 million. Children were taken to boarding schools.

    In this Nation: Allotment created the checkerboard of ownership we still work around today, and the fractionated interests families are still sorting out.

  4. 1934-1953

    Reorganization

    The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended allotment and encouraged Tribes to adopt written constitutions and elected governing bodies.

    In this Nation: We adopted a written Constitution and seated an elected Council, while keeping the older ways of deciding together that never stopped.

  5. 1953-1968

    Termination and relocation

    House Concurrent Resolution 108 set out to end the federal relationship with Tribes altogether. More than one hundred Tribes were terminated, and families were moved to cities.

    In this Nation: We were not terminated. Many of our families were relocated to cities anyway, and a great many of their descendants have since come home.

  6. 1975-today

    Self-determination

    The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 let Tribes take over and run federal programs themselves. Later laws returned authority over child welfare, religion and self-governance.

    In this Nation: We run our own health, education and housing programs, we opened our own school, and we are steadily buying back the homeland.

Which half of this is real

The eras, the dates, the laws and the acreage figures are real federal Indian policy history, and they apply to every Tribal Nation in the United States. The In this Nation line on each card is invented, like the rest of this demonstration. On a real Nation's site those lines are where its own history goes, told in its own words and its own order.

Our land. Our government. Our people.