Indian Claims Commission

The Indian Claims Commission (ICC), established by the U.S. Congress in 1946, remained in operation until 1978. The ICC was part of a larger federal government effort to terminate its guardianship of Native American tribes and bands to promote their assimilation. The ICC adjudicated Native American claims against the federal government for past wrongs, mainly centered on treaty violations, land cessions, and federal mismanagement of Native American resources held in federal trusteeship. The Indian Claims Commission granted 342 monetary awards totaling $818,172,606.64 before its adjournment by Congress in 1978.

The U.S. Congress established the Indian Claims Commission in August 1946 under the Indian Land Commission Claims Act that same year. President Harry Truman signed the bill into law on August 13, 1946, in a formal ceremony featuring Native American and federal government representatives. Congress created the ICC to assume the adjudication of Native American tribal claims against the U.S. government that had formerly come under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Claims.

The ICC was an important component in the federal government Native American policy of termination, which lasted roughly from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1960s. Termination sought to sever federal guardianship and recognition of many Native American tribes or bands, transfer federal control of reservations [Page 1173]to the states, and move many Native Americans off the reservations, among other measures designed to promote their assimilation into mainstream American society. The federal government also claimed that settling long-standing Native American claims was in part recognition for their service during World War II.

The ICC functioned as a court of law, hearing claims brought by Native American plaintiffs and their lawyers; the U.S. government and its lawyers presented their defense. The ICC's three-judge panel, which was later expanded to four judges, was appointed by the president. Native American tribes and bands had a five-year deadline under which to register their claims before the ICC.

Tribes who brought a claim had to prove that they had title to the land. Acreage used by multiple tribes was sometimes discounted. Once their right to the land had been established, they next had to prove either that the land had been unlawfully seized or that federal compensation for ceded land represented less than its fair market value at that time. Both sides relied heavily on historians and anthropologists to serve as expert witnesses. Tribes whose claims were upheld received awards consisting solely of monetary compensation, as return of ceded lands had been excluded. The amount of compensation was calculated by subtracting the compensation already received from the federal government from the original fair market value.