Research Paper on "Indian Land Claims"

Research Paper 8 pages (2904 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

This legal maneuver led to the creation of what some commentators refer to as the new laches defense. Part of the Oneida's legal strategy had always been to state that it was not seeking to eject individual landowners. However, by naming individual landowners as defendants, they were directly putting these landowners' property rights at risk. The Supreme Court then determined that these landowners had a protected property right, which the State did not have. In other words, the State could be punished for taking the Oneida's land, but the remedy could not be ejecting innocent landowners.

The Cayugas filed suit a decade after the Oneidas, in 1980. Their situation was somewhat different because they had no land in New York at the time that they filed suit. They claimed 64,000 acres in Seneca and Cayuga Counties and received a $37 judgment on land that they had appraised at $660 million (Chen, n.p.). However, they did not receive an award on that judgment, which they felt was inadequate. In 1985, the Mohawks filed suit claiming land in St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties and to Barnhart Island (Chen, n.p.) The Mohawks claim became intermingled with New York's attempt to tax non-Indian's buying items on reservations and the Mohawk's attempts to build a casino. The Seneca nation may be the most complex of the Iroquois nations. In New York, they not only have three separate reservations, but also two different governments. Each of those governments is claiming different areas of land and filed suit in 1993.

The Onondagas claim a sizable area of land, 64,000 acres, but the most significant part of their claim was that it encompassed Syracuse, the state capital, and Onondaga Lake. Their plan could benefit the community in ways that other claims would not because they intend to help clean up the lake, which is one of the most polluted lakes in the country. The Onondagas allege that "Between 1790 and 1822, the State of New York signed five so-called "treaties" with individual members of the Onondaga Nation, supposedly acquiring all of the Nation's lands except for the 7,300-acre territory where the Nation resides today" (Onondaga Nation). None of the treaties was ever ratified by the Onondaga Nation, by the Haudenosaunee, or by the United States government. The State then transferred title in some of this land to later purchasers, who were the predecessors in title to today's landowners. It is important to keep in mind that Iroquois are not alleging that modern landowners have willfully wrongfully possessed the land, but that does not alter the fact that they are claiming to be the rightful and lawful owners of such land.

When taken as a whole, the amount of land allegedly taken illegally initially appears to be staggering, but the Iroquois are not actually claiming ownership of a huge physical amount of land. The Iroquois Confederacy is composed of six nations, and each nation claimed legal ownership to a significant amount of land, the majority of it located in New York State. The Oneidas laid claim to "250,000 acres of rural New York between Syracuse and Utica" (Chen, n.p.). The Cayugas claimed ownership of 64,00 acres at the northern tip of Cayuga Lake (Chen, n.p.) The Senecas claimed ownership of land near Buffalo, specifically an area known as Grand Island (Chen, n.p.). The Mohawks were not seeking a concentrated parcel of land, but, instead, looking at a series of islands and separated parcels near the Canadian border (Chen, n.p.). Finally, the Onondagas sought a 64,000 tract of land that included Syracuse. The total amount of acreage may seem daunting, but in reality the amount in controversy is relatively small; 620 square miles, or an area roughly double the size of New York City (Chen, n.p.).

Several things differentiated the Iroquois claims from similar claims made by other groups of Native Americans, but the most significant one may have been the location. In the West, Indian land claims were generally made in sparsely populated areas, which made it easier to grant resolutions in favor of tribal claims without dispossessing or threatening the property rights of current landowners. In addition, New York was oddly slow to respond to the Iroquois's claims. Prior to bringing lawsuits, the various nations attempted to resolve the disputes with the New York State government, but none of the administrations would resolve the disputes.

When the nations began to file lawsuits, current landowners responded with some feelings of concern, which mainly focused on the notion that any successful claims would result in displacement of current landowners and a lack of compensation for those landowners. However, the Iroquois seemed consistent in their position that they had no intention of evicting landowners and there has never been any real likelihood that the courts would evict current private landowners from occupied land, but would instead resolve those claims with monetary judgments. Despite that fact, landowners still seem nervous about what results could occur from the land claims. First, successful land claims would result in a significant increase in Iroquois-held land in New York; it would roughly quadruple the amount of land owned by the Iroquois in the state (Chen, n.p.). This would have an impact on surrounding landowners because Native American own land is not subject to local and state taxes, so that one would anticipate an increase in the tax burden for those other land owners. The suspected resulted would be the eventual flight from the area, so that it would become gradually more and more owned by the Iroquois.

While the land claims have not resulted in any type of conclusive, positive outcome for the Iroquois that does not mean that they have not played a beneficial role in tribal politics and organization in modern times. On the contrary, some people believe that the land claims have played a critical role in motivating the tribes to pursue things that would improve their economic worth. While it may have begun with a land claim, the fact is that the efforts spilled over into other areas and, for many of the nations, led to improvements in other economic and social areas (Coin, n.p.). Therefore, it may not be correct to view the lawsuits as failures, even if they have not resulted in any type of meaningful settlements or awards in favor of the tribes.

Because there still has not been a conclusive settlement to the Iroquois claims, it may seem impossible to reach conclusions about the disputes. However, there are several things that seem clear from the disputes. The first thing is that the Iroquois have valid, legal claims based upon the fact that land was taken from them illegally and they have the right to either possession of their land or compensation for the takings when possession is not possible. The second thing is that residents in the impacted areas have valid concerns and any just resolution of these disputes must address their concerns, as well as the underlining ownership dispute. Finally, the State of New York, who was the architect of the illegal takings, is and should be, the party responsible for correcting these wrongs. It should not be the burden of the Iroquois or of the modern landowners to try to correct these wrongs as individuals. All that the continued delay by the state does is drag out a situation that has been creating uncertainty and difficulty for all of the stakeholders for far too long.

Works Cited

Chen, David. "Battle Over Iroquois Land Claims Escalates." The New York Times. 16 May

2000: A1. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. .

Coin, Glenn. "Legal Battles Over Land Claims Possibly Helped Oneidas." Syracuse.com., 15

Aug. 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. .

Fort, Kathryn. "Disruption and Impossibility: New Laches and the Unfortunate Resolution of the Iroquois Land Claims in Federal Court." Michigan State University College of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-03. Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection. 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. .

Harnden, Philip. An Introduction to the Iroquois Land Claims. Syracuse: American Friends

Service Committee, 2000. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. .

Onondaga Nation. "FAQ." Onondaga Nation. Onondaga Nation, 2014. Web. 11 Feb.… READ MORE

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