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Democracy
The idea of government is not something that is had without the word Democracy. For children who live on the reservation, they will learn about both the United States government and their local government. The word “Democracy” is a term that needs to be understood to understand the type of government we have. Democracy is the type of government that is formed that gives power to the people. It provides the opportunity for the following: Effective participation, Equality in voting, Gaining enlightened understanding, Exercising final control over the agenda, Inclusion of adults. 2 Democracy is a type of government that was built to give the people a voice. Where all have a way of making their views known, everyone has vote, have the opportunity to learn about the policies and what some different alternatives are and what are some consequences of those policies, everyone has the opportunity to have their matters put onto an agenda to be heard, any adult has the full rights of citizens.
Foundational history of the government.
To design, a democratic government and students need to know the history of how the idea came to mind. Putting a Native American perspective to the idea of democracy and how the United States government was set up goes back to the Iroquoian League of Nations. It was a nation formed by six different tribes coming together to live in an environment where each tribe had a voice and they had leadership presented to create a union that embodied democracy. Benjamin Franklin has stated that the idea of federal government stems off the idea of how the league was set up to where there was some kind of central type of government. With this idea comes the set-up of our United States Government. In the United States, we have three forms of government that help in making decisions for the people. The Legislative Branch, the Execute Branch, and the Judicial Branch. Also, in government, we have representatives that are elected to speak for a group of people or in government each state. Iroquoian League of Nations influenced the structure of the United States government. Benjamin Franklin introduced the ideas of the League and how they in a way govern their people so that all these tribes can live in an area where each tribe has a representative to go to the meetings to determine outcomes of propositions made by each tribe. Whether or not they will go to war with another tribe or what will happen in their area.
The Iroquoian League of Nations had a similar type of union. The union consisted of the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora who called themselves the Haudenosaunee or better known as “The People of the Long House”. These tribes each selected one person to represent each tribe. The Long House was broken into two houses- the Older brothers (Mohawk and Seneca) and the Younger brothers (Oneida and Cayuga). Before the Tuscarora were part of the league the Onondaga representative would be the deciding vote if both parties did not agree. However, if both parties agreed but the Onondaga didn’t agree the subject would be discussed again and if the decision were still made in the same manner then the Onondaga would be overruled. 3The statement can be made “How many of you in here know that the United States government was influenced by a group of Eastern Native Americans and how the government is set up ties to the idea of a group of six different tribes who worked together to keep peace and function together to live together in a place where every tribe had a voice”. Having a type of government where the voices come from the people and have their voices heard is the kind of government the United States had put in place to eventually come up with a US Constitution.
Types of governments with the United States government.
Legislative Branch- Make the law, this is set up by two houses (The senate and the House)
Senate: the people who the state elects to speak for the people (comparable to the Iroquoian League of Nation)
Executive Branch- enforce the laws being made (Our United States president is part of this branch)
The Judicial Branch- interprets the law (The Supreme Court and the local courts)
- These three branches have to work together to make sure we who live the United States are protected by the law and that they have to same rights as their fellow citizens.
Native Americans in Arizona
The United States has well over 560 tribes within the Nation that have been recognized by the government. Of that 560 number, in the state of Arizona, 21 federally recognized tribes are in existence today. The reservation land combined of all these states makes up more than one-third of the state of Arizona. The Ak Chin, Cocopah, Colorado River Indians, Fort McDowell Yavapai, Fort Mojave Indian tribe, Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma, Gila River, Havasupai, Hope, Hualapai, Kaibab Band of Paiute, Navajo, Pascua Yaqui, Salt River Pima-Maricopa, San Carlos Apache, San Juan Southern Paiute, Tohono O’odham, Tonto Apache, White Mountain Apache, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Yavapai-Prescott Tribe. 4
These tribes, if not all have their type of government where elected people represent their tribes and their tribes' interest on a local level, state level, and national level. Just like voting for a United States representative the Native American in their own government have elections and campaigning that they do in order to win a position.
Navajo Nation
“Indian tribes have the inherent right to self -government.” 5
The Navajo Nation is one of the largest Indian reservations in the United States. A reservation is a piece of land that has been set aside by the federal government for the use and benefit of one or more tribes. 6 Navajo land also is known as the Navajo Reservation, but to many, it is their Dine Bikeyah (Navajo Land) sits on 17,544,500 acres of land that touches in four different states Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. With a population of more than 250,000 people who are registered individuals with enrolled Certificate of Indian Blood census numbers are recognized as Navajo descent. The Navajo people are one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States that are federally recognized in the state of Arizona and by the Government of the United States. What is unique about the Navajo Nation is the fact that the Hopi reservation is embedded into the land and the Navajo reservation surrounds Hope land. The Hopi themselves do not have the same government as the Navajo people. They have their own government and representatives.
Great example of how the Navajo nation government and the Hopi are different is the Hopi have nine self-governing villages where they decided what is best for their own village. 7 The Navajo Nation has one government that looks out for the whole Navajo Nation.
Navajo Nation Government
Before the Navajo Nation had a government, they had Natural Communities made up of local bands of people who were from families or communities. They gathered at regional meetings to discuss harvest and wartime issues. The last known meeting of these 24 different headmen, made up of twelve peacemakers and twelve war leaders were in 1858 before the Navajos endured the Long Walk to Hweeldi (Bosque Redondo). In June of 1868, the Navajo people were able to leave Bosque Redondo and return to their land between the four sacred mountains, Mount Hesperus to the north, Blanca Peak to the east, Mount Taylor to the south, and the San Francisco Peaks to the west.
With the signing of treaties done by the government there are eight criteria’s of the type of authority a tribe has, the right to form a government, decide to gets tribe membership, regulate land, regulate individual land, exercise criminal justice, exercise civil justice, regulate domestic disputes, and the right to engage in and regulate commerce and trade. 8
The Navajo Nation had a discovery in the 1920s. That discovery was oil! The oil discovery is what kick-started the need for a Tribal government for the federal government to lease land for the exploration of oil on Navajo Land in 1923. As large as the Navajo Reservation is the land is divided up into chapters. There is a total of one hundred ten chapters on the Navajo reservation. A total of 88 council delegates, these are individuals who represent a region of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation capital is located in a place called Window Rock, Arizona where all meetings take place and where the President of the Navajo Nation has his office. In Window Rock, Arizona it sits close to the New Mexico border. It wasn’t until the year 1991 that the Navajo Nation government adopted the three branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial branch to help govern the Navajo people.
Navajo Nation President
The Navajo Nation president is and has always been a male figure. The Navajo people come from a strong traditional heritage where they believe that a woman cannot and will not be a leader of the Nation. There have been attempts where women have run for the presidency of the Navajo Nation, but those attempts were unsuccessful. However, women do serve in other areas of the Navajo Nation government.
A story about voting on the Reservation
When talking to a member of the Navajo tribe, Paul told a story about how his chapter used to vote back in the day of when he was a young boy. When Paul was a child he remembers going to the chapter house, a place where people gathered to discuss business about their community. Paul stated that he went with his mother to this chapter house because they were selecting a new chapter president. There were two candidates there and they gave their reasons why they should be the chapter president of that chapter in Round Rock, Arizona. Each of those chapter presidents was elected to represent those chapters at the meetings that are held in Window Rock, Arizona. When the two candidates are done they are led outside and then people are told, “If you want this person (the name of one candidate) stand on the north side of the building and if you want (the name of one candidate) stand on the south side of the building and if you don’t know who you want to vote for stand by the fireplace by the door.” No one ever stood by the fireplace. Once it was known who won the people come back together and the candidates were brought back in and it was announced who has won. This was how the voting was done on a community type election of a leader. This is not like how it is today when people anonymously vote for their leaders.
Voting on the Reservation
Just like any other minority group in the United States history Native Americans have had to fight the fight to vote. For many years Native Americans were considered non-citizens in their states because they lived on reservation land. 9 For years people fought to keep the right to vote away from the Native American people by using different laws and different policies. Just as every minority group has done the Native American people have fought to have the right to vote. The Navajo Reservation extends into four different states and therefore it extends into six different counties. Those counties in Arizona are Apache county, Navajo county, and Coconino county. In New Mexico, the counties are San Juan county and McKinley county. The last county is in the state of Utah and that is also part of San Juan county but in the Utah state.
State Supreme Courts
Native Americans who live on reservations are considered under federal guardianship. This is another barrier that prevented Native Americans from being able to vote.
State Taxes and Local Taxes
One argument that kept the right to vote out the grasp on Native Americans was the idea that because Native Americans lived on reservations they did not have the right to vote because on reservations Native American did not pay taxes to the state. Allegedly, this meant that they did not have the right to vote on policies off the reservations that are to be made about state policies. However, in many different states, Native people do travel off reservations and pay taxes for off-reservation businesses.
Literacy Test to Vote
Literacy tests to be able to vote were often put in place to be as barriers for minority voters in the United States. This test just did not just prevent people from voting in the eastern or southern states but took effect in other places. This test also affected the people who lived on the reservation. Not only was the test administered by white people but there was a language barrier involved. It wasn’t until 1965 when this practice was banned and this alone opened up voting for people of different minorities.
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