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Supreme Court — Part 2
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4 United States va. Chavez et al.
‘That the lands now held by the various villages or pueblos of
Pueblo Indians, or by individual members thereof, within Pueblo
reservations or lands, in the Territory of New Menico, and all per-
sonal property furnished said Indians by the United States, or used
in cultivating said lands, and any cattle and sheep now possessed
or that may hereafter be acquired by said Indians shall be free
and exempt from taxation of any sort whatsoever, including taxes
heretofore levied, if any, until Congress shall otherwise provide,’’
In 1907 the territorial court, for a like reason, held that the
Pueblo Indians were not wards of the Government in the sense
of the legislation forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquor to
Indians and its introduction inte the Indian country." But that
decision was soon followed by the declaration, in the enabling act
of 1910, that ‘‘the terms ‘Indian’ and ‘Indian country’ shall in-
clude the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and the lands now owned
or oceupied by them’*. And in 1924 Congreas, in taking measures
to protect these Indians in their land titles, expressly asserted for
the United States the status and powers belonging to it ‘‘as
guardian of said Pueblo Indians.’
In United States v. Sandoval, 231 U. §. 28, this Court, after
full examination of the subject, held that the status of the Indians
of the several pueblos in New Mexico is that of dependent Indian
tribes under the guardianship of the United States and that by
reason of this status they and their lands are subject to the legis-
lation of Congress enacted for ihe protection of tribal Indians
and their property. We there said (pp. 45, 46) -
“Not only does the Conatitution expressly authorize Congress
to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes, but long continued
legislative and exeentive usage and an unbroken current of judi.
cial decisions have attributed to the United States as a superior
and civilized nation the power and the duty of exercising a foater-
ing care and protection over ail dependent Indian communities
within ita borders, whether within its original territory or terri-
tory subsequently acquired, and whether within or without the
**Of course, it is not meant by this that Congress may bring a
community or body of people within the range of this power by
arbitrarily calling them an Indian tribe, but only that in respect
of distinctly Indian communities the questions whether, ta what
extent, and for what time they shall be recognized and dealt with
as dependent tribes requiring the guardianship and protection of
10United States v. Mares, 14 Now Mexico 1,
‘MaAet June 7, 1o24, ¢. 331, 48 Stat. 636.
Uaited States vs. Chavez ef al. 5
the United States are to be determined by Congress and not by
the vourts.’” .
We then pointed out that neither their citizenship, if they are
citizens, nor their communal ownership of the full title in fee
simple ia an obstacle to the exercise of such guardianship over
them and their property. We also there disapproved and declined
to follow the decision in the early case of United States v. Joseph,
94 U. 3. 614, relating to these Indians, because it was based upon
reported data which in the mean time had been found to be at
variance with recognized sources of information and with the long
continued action of the legislative and executive departments.
In Uatted States v. Condelaria, 271 U. & ABZ, we were called
upon to determine whether the people of a pueblo in New Mexico
were a ‘‘tribe of Indians'’ within the meaning of § 2116 of the
Revised Statues, deciaring that no purchase of landa ‘“‘from any
Indian nation or tribe of Indians’ shall be of any validity unless
made with specified safeguards; and the conclusion to which we
came, and the reasons for it, are shown in the following excerpt
from the opinion (pp. 441, 442):
‘This provision was originally adopted in 1834, c. 161, sec. 12,
4 Stat. 730, and, with others ‘regulating trade and intercourse
with the Indian tribes,’ was extended over ‘the Indian tribes’ of
New Mexico in 1851, ¢ 14, see. 7, 9 Stat. 587.
‘*While there is no express reference ‘in the provision to Pueblo
Indians, we think it must be taken as including them. They are
Plainly within ita spirit and, in our opinion, fairly within its
words, ‘any tribe of Indians.’ Although sedentary, industrious
and disposed to peace, they are Indians in race, customs and do-
mestic government, always have lived in isolated communities, and
are s simple, uninformed people, ill-prepared to cope with the in-
telligence and greed of other races. It therefore is difficult to be-
lieve that Congress in 1851 was not intending to protect them, but
only the nomadic and savage Indians then living in New Merico.
A more reasonable view is that the term ‘Indian tribe’ was used in
the acta of 1634 and 1951 irt the sense of ‘a body of Indians of the
saine or a similar race, united in a community under one leader-
ship or government, and inhabiting a particular though sometimes
ill-defined territory.’ Montoya v. United States, 180 U. 8. 261,
266. In that sense the term easily includes Pueblo Indiana’
Section 217 now being considered, like the section considered
in that case, was originally 4 part of the act of 1834. One speaks
of ‘‘Indian country’’ and the other of an ‘‘Indian nation or tribe
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