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Feds 200, Indians ): The Burden Of Proof In The Federal / Indian Fiduciary Relationship, Eugenia A. Phipps

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Great nations, like great men, should keep their word."' Justice Black, in his dissent in Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, encapsulated the failures of two centuries of the United States' relationship with its native Indians. Since establishing the first tentative treaties of the Revolutionary era, the United States has made many broad promises to the Indians. These promises, detailed first in treaties and later in statutes, drew the government and the Indians into a fiduciary relationship. Although this relationship would have consequences for federal/Indian interactions, raising the level of care with which the government would treat its native …