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Show 18 REPORT OF THE COMM~SSIONER OF INDIAN AF'AIRS. CITIZENSHIP. Citizensnip by treaty and special acts of Congress.-As early as 1817 provision was made in a treaty of that year with the Cherokees (7 Stats., 159) by which any member of that tribe who desired uligbt be-come a citizen of the United States; and in 1820 a treaty (7 Stats., 211) with the Choctaws provided for t,he future allotment of the lands of those Indians east of the Mississippi River, and for making the Indians themselves citizens. Subsequently, by treaties and acts of Congress,* provision was made under which members of the Stock-bridge and Munsee, the Ot t a ~ aP, o ttawatomie, Wyandotte, and other tribes might become citizens, and under which some of each of those tribes became such. In nearly all treaties made with different tribes eontemporaneonsly with and subsequently to those above referred to, and prior to 1871, provisions appear under which members of the tribes with whom the treaties were signed could become naturalized citizens of the United States; but there was no general law under which all members of the Indian race could become such. Citizenship by the fourteenth amendment and a naturalization law.-The first clause of article fonrteent of ameudments to the Constitution of the United States provides that all peraons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdietion thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Upon the adoption 01 this amendment to the Constitution the question arose whether an Indian could by severing his tribal relations and fully and completely surrendering himself to the jurisdiction of the United States become a citizen thereof, and it was strongly contended that he could. It was argued that when an Indian born within the territoriallitnits of the United States, although born in tribal relations, severed his rela- 1,ions with his tribe, or voluntarily renounced his all&ianee to the gov-ernment thereof, and surrendered himself to the jurisdiction of the United States, he would thereby fulfill all the conditions necessary to give him citizenship, and therefore become a citizen thereof, under this amendment. This question, however, was determined in the .negative by the Supreme Oourt in Elk. a Wilkins (112 U. S., loo), in which it was held that- This alien and dependent condition of the members of the Indian tribes oonld not be pot off at their own will, without the consent of the United States. They were See an to Stackbridgea acts of Congress of March 3,1843. 5 Stab., 645; ofAugust 6, 1846, 9 Stata., 55; of bfamh 3, 1865, 13 Stata., 531 ; and of February 6, 1871, 16 Stata., 404 ; an? treaties of November 24, 1848, 9 Stata., 555 ; andof 1856.11 Stata., 663. As to the Wysndottes, aee tre'eluty of 1855, 10 Stata., 1159, the Pattawatomiea, treetiea of 18ti1, 12 Stats., 1192; andof 1866, 14Stats., 763; the Ottawas, treaty of 1862,12'Struta., 1237; and theKiok%pooa, treaty of June 2d, 1862, 13 Stats., 6%; and aot of Congress of Msroh 3, ld39, 5 Stab., 851, oonoerning the Brothertown Indiana in Wisconsin. t The fonrteenth amendment was proposed by Congress to the legialaturea of the severd States June 16, 1866, and deolarcd in s proclamation of the Seoretary of State July 28, 1868 (see l4.Stab., 358, and 15 Stata., 708). |