Native Americans Current State of Affairs in US

When English settlers first came the the US, in order to create a new life for themselves, they needed to find a place to live. In order to do that, they needed to push out some of the Native American tribes that were already occupying these places. This began a conflict between Native Americans and US citizens that still exists today, but is getting better. The US is constantly engaging in agreements with Native American tribes that will make their lives better. For example;

Native American tribal governments are an integral part of the political fabric of the United States. As the Supreme Court of the United States determined in its 1831 decision in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Peters) 1, tribal governments are not "states" in a constitutional sense, nor are they "foreign states," at least for purposes of Article III original jurisdiction. Instead, they are "domestic dependent nations," with many sovereign powers retained from the pre-contact period. As tribal governments have grown in political and economic power, the Supreme Court, the United States Congress, the federal executive, and the tribes have engaged in an increasingly important discussion to determine the scope of their powers. States, municipalities and individual citizens have all contributed to this conversation. The result is a legal regime of fascinating complexity. More than 500 tribal governments are recognized by the United States government. Some have large membership bases and control vast domains. The Navajo, for example, comprise a population of more than 225,000 and govern lands totaling in excess of 15 million acres spread over three Southwestern states. The largest tribe in terms of membership is the Cherokee Nation, which has more than 300,000 citizens. Most tribes, however, have fewer than 1000 members. Approximately 40% of all federally recognized tribes are village groups in Alaska. The smallest tribal reservation is smaller than 100 acres. The state with the largest Indian population is California, with Oklahoma a close second. Alaska is the state with the highest percentage of Native Americans residing within its borders.

Tribal economic, political and cultural development has also been encouraged by federal Indian education legislation. The most important of these statutes, the Indian Education Act of 1972, established the Office of Indian Education and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and made federal funds available for Native American educational initiatives at all grade levels. (Lindsey G. Robertson, June 2001; http://thorpe.ou.edu/guide/robertson.html)