The Lacey Act of 1907, authored by Rep.
John F. Lacey, an
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
Republican, revised federal Indian Law to provide for the allotment of tribal funds to certain classes of Indians.
[Frances Paul Prucha, "Documents of United States Indian Policy," p. 209 (U of Neb. Press: 1975).] These provisions were proposed after the passage of the
Burke Act
The Burke Act (1906), formally known as the General Allotment Act Amendment of 1906 and also called the Forced Fee Patenting Act, amended the Dawes Act of 1887 under which the communal land held by tribes on the Indian reservations was broken up ...
and the
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
, both of which provided for the allotment of reservation lands to individual Indians, but not to communally owned trust funds. After much debate and several opposing arguments, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
signed the bill into law on March 2, 1907.
The Lacey Act is made of two sections, Sec. 1 and Sec. 2.
[U.S. Statutes at Large 34:1221-22.] Section 1 states the general guidelines for those Indians wishing to claim his or her share of the tribal funds to which he is entitled.
[ This first section stipulates that:
]The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, from time to time, to designate any individual Indian belonging to any tribe or tribes whom he may deem to be capable of managing his or her affairs, and he may cause the apportioned and allotted to any such Indian his or her pro rata of any tribal or trust funds on deposit in the Treasury of the United States to the Credit of such Indian on the books of the Treasury."[Entry from Section 1 of the Lacey Act of 1907 requiring that such Indian receiving his/her share of tribal funds is capable of managing those funds. The Treasury will keep records of all allotment transactions the said Indian and the Treasury of the United States.]
The above-mentioned stipulations will be met under the conditions that each individual Indian files an application for allotment of funds. Section 1 also states that:
These claims must be pending for settlement at the time of such apportionment and allotment by judicial determination in the Court of Claims or the Executive Departments of the Government.
Section 2 of the Lacey Act allows the Secretary of the Interior to pay any Indian who is blind, crippled, decrepit, or helpless due to old age, disease, or accident their share of the tribal trust funds. Included in the conditions of Section 2, in the case that the previous requirements are met, is the organization for the allotment of funds placed into the Treasury, after the time of the initial allotment, which are intended for the credit of the individual's tribe. The Act explains:
References
{{Native American rights
United States federal Native American legislation
1907 in American law