Alcohol-Related Deaths of American Indians-Reply

Abstract

In Reply. —Dr Gibb's letter suggests that tribal sovereignty is part of the problem rather than part of the solution to alcohol abuse. Gibb's views, unfortunately, reflect a lack of knowledge concerning tribal sovereignty and American Indian governments. Thus, a brief discussion of inherent tribal sovereignty is in order. American Indian nations and tribes were sovereign, self-governing communities before Europeans came to America, and the US Constitution recognizes the sovereignty of American Indian tribes. 1 Through treaties with the United States, American Indian tribes retained their sovereign rights to self-government, and American Indian reservations were established to provide homelands for American Indian people in the face of the advancing tide of European settlement. 2 Congress unilaterally ended treaty making in 1871, and at the height of the Social Darwinist era in 1887, the Allotment Act was enacted to break up reservations, distribute 160-acre parcels of tribal land to individual American