Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783
Encyclopedia
Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 was a proclamation by the Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...

 dated September 22, 1783 prohibiting the extinguishment of aboriginal title in the United States
Aboriginal title in the United States
The United States was the first jurisdiction to acknowledge the common law doctrine of aboriginal title...

 without the consent of the federal government. The policy underlying the proclamation was inaugurated by the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

, and continued after the ratification of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

 by the Nonintercourse Acts of 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1833.

During the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...

-era, several U.S. states, particularly New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, purchased lands from Indians without the consent of Congress. In the 1980s, in the wake of the Oneida I
Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State v. Oneida County
Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State v. Oneida Cnty., 414 U.S. 661 , is a landmark decision concerning aboriginal title in the United States...

(1974) decision permitting tribes to pursue such claims in federal courts, several tribes challenged such conveyances as contrary to the Proclamation. However, the Second Circuit has held that Congress had neither the authority nor the intent to prohibit such purchases within the borders of individual states, and thus that the Proclamation applied only to the federal territories.

Text

The Proclamation prohibits:
all persons from making settlements on lands inhabited or claimed by Indians, without the limits or jurisdiction of any particular State, and from purchasing or receiving any gift or cession of such lands or claims without the express authority and directions of the United States in Congress assembled.

The Proclamation also declared:
that every very such purchase or settlement, gift or cession, not having the authority aforesaid, is null and void, and that no right or title will accrue in consequence of any such purchase, gift, cession or settlement.

Litigation

Few early cases cite the Proclamation. However, the Proclamation has been cited modern in litigation challenging conveyances of aboriginal title
Aboriginal title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism...

 from tribes between 1783 and 1790.

The most in-depth analysis of the Proclamation was conducted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...

 in Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. New York (1988). There, the Oneida Indian Nation
Oneida Indian Nation
The Oneida Indian Nation is the Oneida tribe that resides in New York and currently owns a number of businesses and tribal land in Verona, NY, Oneida, NY, and Canastota, NY.- Businesses :...

 challenged purchases of Oneida lands by the state of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1785 and 1788. Judge Jon O. Newman
Jon O. Newman
Jon O. Newman is an United States federal judge. He has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1979.-Education and legal training:...

, for a unanimous three-judge panel, became one of the first U.S. federal judges to rule on the powers of the Congress and the states under the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...

, 200 years after-the-fact. Newman held:
  • that the states were empowered under the Articles to purchase land from Indians without the consent of Congress;
  • that the clauses in the Articles relating to Congress' authority to make war and peace with Indians were non-justiciable;
  • that the lands—disputed by New York and Massachusetts
    Massachusetts
    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

    —were within the territory of New York at the time of the purchase;
  • that the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
    Treaty of Fort Stanwix
    The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York...

     did not prohibit the purchase;
  • that the Proclamation did not apply to lands within states;
  • and that, if the Proclamation had applied to such lands, it would have exceeded Congress' power under the Articles.


The result of this decision was to extinguish "one of the largest land claims," claiming between 5500000 and 6000000 acre (22,257.7 and 24,281.2 km2). Howard Elijah, secretary of the Oneida Council of Chiefs, called the decision a "genocide." The Oneidas were represented by the Native American Rights Fund
Native American Rights Fund
The Native American Rights Fund, also known as NARF, is a non-profit organization that uses existing laws and treaties to ensure that state governments and the national government live up to their legal obligations...

.

External links

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