The American Indian Movement Organizes the Trail of Broken Treaties (1972)

In 1972, AIM (American Indian Movement) activists organized the Trail of Broken Treaties and Pan American Native Quest for Justice. In a symbolic reversal of the 19th century Trail of Tears, activists drove from California, Washington, and Oklahoma to Washington, DC. Along the way, caravans of protesters stopped in Minnesota, where they wrote a 20-point position paper, “The Trail of Broken Treaties.” The paper’s first demand, excerpted here, called for federal recognition that Indigenous nations held the political authority to govern themselves and to sign treaties with other nations. It also called for the federal government to abide by existing treaties, return more than 100 million acres of Native land to indigenous communities, and protect Indigenous religious freedom and culture.

RESTORATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY-MAKING AUTHORITY:
The U.S. President should propose by executive message, and the Congress should consider and enact legislation, to repeal the provision in the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act which withdrew federal recognition from Indian Tribes and Nations as political entities, which could be contracted by treaties with the United States, in order that the President may resume the exercise of his full constitutional authority for acting in the matters of Indian Affairs - and in order that Indian Nations may represent their own interests in the manner and method envisioned and provided in the Federal Constitution.