Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock
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''Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock'', 187 U.S. 553 (1903), was a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case brought against the US government by the
Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
chief
Lone Wolf A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack. Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to: Literature *''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond'' *''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...
, who charged that Native American tribes under the
Medicine Lodge Treaty The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by re ...
had been defrauded of land by Congressional actions in violation of the treaty. The Court declared that the "
plenary power A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations. It is derived from the Latin term ''plenus'' ("full"). United States In United States constitutional law, plenary p ...
" of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
gave it authority to abrogate treaty obligations between the United States and Native American tribes unilaterally. The decision marked a departure from the holdings of ''
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ''Cherokee Nation v. Georgia'', 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831), was a United States Supreme Court case. The Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving them of rights within its boundaries, but ...
'', , and ''
Worcester v. Georgia ''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court Vacated judgment, vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal ...
'', , which had shown greater respect for the autonomy of Native American tribes.


Background


Tribes

The
Kiowa tribe Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and ev ...
is a Native American tribe that has historically inhabited the southern
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
what is now
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, and
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. Originally from the northern great plains along the
Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself ...
, and under pressure from other tribes, they eventually moved and settled south of the
Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
primarily in present-day Oklahoma. The Kiowa had a long history of close association and alliance with the
Kiowa-Apache The Plains Apache are a small Southern Athabaskan group who live on the Southern Plains of North America, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are centered in Southwestern Oklahoma and Northern Texas and ...
or Plains Apache. Around 1790, the Kiowa also formed an alliance with the
Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
and formed a barrier to European-American incursions into their territories. The alliance made travel on the
Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...
hazardous, with attacks on wagon trains beginning in 1828 and continuing thereafter.


Treaties

In 1837 at
Fort Gibson Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any othe ...
, leaders of the Kiowa tribe signed their first treaty with the United States. By 1854, the need for another treaty became apparent, and the United States entered into a treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache (KCA) at Fort Ackinson,
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
. The treaty did not specifically designate a reservation but was, for the most part, an extension of the 1837 treaty. There was an attempt to place some of the tribes on a reservation on the
Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...
in
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
near Fort Belknap, under
Indian Agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...
Robert S. Neighbors Robert Simpson Neighbors (November 3, 1815 – September 14, 1859) was an Indian agent and Texas state legislator. Known as a fair and determined protector of Indian interests as guaranteed by treaty, he was murdered for his beliefs by a Texan w ...
. By 1858, Neighbors resolved to move the reservation into Indian Territory. By August 1859, Neighbors had moved the Indians from the Brazos Reservation to Indian Territory, south of the
Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geography The ...
near
Fort Cobb Fort Cobb was a United States Army post established in what is now Caddo County, Oklahoma in 1859 to protect relocated Native Americans from raids by the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. The fort was abandoned by Maj. William H. Emory at the beginn ...
. In 1865, near present-day
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, the three tribes signed another treaty that provided for the reservation in present-day Oklahoma and Texas. Finally, in 1867, the tribes agreed to the
Medicine Lodge Treaty The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by re ...
. The treaty provided for a much smaller reservation and stipulated that whites were not allowed to encroach on the reservation. Also, to reduce the reserve's land further would require the approval of three fourths of the tribal members.


Assimilation period

Within one year, the United States breached the treaty when General
William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
ordered all the tribes to Fort Cobb, withheld the treaty payments to them, and requested an order declaring that all hunting rights be forfeited. At the same time, Indian agents were trying to undermine tribal authority as the buffalo herds were being eliminated by white hunting. Two new leaders emerged meanwhile:
Quanah Parker Quanah Parker (Comanche ''kwana'', "smell, odor") ( – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwah ...
and
Lone Wolf A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack. Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to: Literature *''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond'' *''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...
(the younger) Following his defeat at the
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon was a military confrontation and a significant United States victory during the Red River War. The battle occurred on September 28, 1874, when several U.S. Army regiments under Ranald S. Mackenzie attacked a large ...
, Parker settled down and began to adopt white ways. Lone Wolf and his followers continued to resist assimilation policies. Many of the old tribal leaders had been arrested and imprisoned when they left the reservation to hunt, and war leaders such as
Lone Wolf A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack. Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to: Literature *''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond'' *''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...
(the elder) started to pass away from old age and disease. During this same period, as the tribes had been unsuccessful at farming it, the KCA found a way to make the land pay by leasing it to cattlemen for grazing., at 217. By 1885, about were being used to graze about 75,000 cattle, with an annual payment to the tribes of $55,000. At the same time, whites living just outside the reservation boundary were coming onto it to take timber and other goods, resulting in the tribes forming a police force to protect their property from theft by white settlers.


The Jerome Commission

In 1892, the United States sent the Jerome Commission, consisting of David H. Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson, and Warren G. Sayre, to meet with the Kiowa to convince them to turn over most of their reserve for white settlement in return for $2 million. Lone Wolf spoke out in opposition to the allotment, saying: After over a week of negotiations, terms were set so that each member would receive 160 acres. The tribes would receive $2 million of which $250,000 would be paid to members, with the remaining money to be held in trust for the tribes at 5% interest. The commission immediately began to collect signatures and, just as quickly, allegations of fraud arose. Joshua Givens, an interpreter, was widely suspected of being dishonest. He was accused of forcing some members to sign and tricking others into thinking they were signing a document opposing the agreement. By now, the tribes were almost unanimous in their opposition to the agreement, asked to see the document, and requested that their signatures be removed. Lone Wolf later stated that was refused and that they were threatened with violence. Jerome left the reservation with what the government claimed was the approval of three quarters of the tribe.


Congress

With the validity of the agreement in question, the tribes, joined by the
Indian Rights Association The Indian Rights Association (IRA) was a social activist group dedicated to the well being and acculturation of American Indians. Founded by non-Indians in Philadelphia in 1882, the group was highly influential in American Indian policy through ...
(IRA) and local ranchers, lobbied against its ratification by Congress. The IRA wrote letters to Senators, stating that the agreement was: "utterly destructive of that honor and good faith which should characterize our dealings with any people, and especially with one too weak to enforce their rights as against us by any other mean as than an appeal to our sense of justice." The
Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...
informed Congress that the allotment would be devastating to the tribes, as the land was not suited to farming, and the amount of land allotted would not allow them sufficient land to graze cattle. A bill was introduced in 1892 to ratify the agreement, but failed to receive the necessary votes. It was reintroduced every year until it passed in 1900, eight years later. The agreement finally passed when the
Rock Island Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad In the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly k ...
agree to set aside an additional 480,000 acres of
pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
land for the tribes to hold in common.


Lower courts

At the ratification of the agreement, a delegation of tribal leaders traveled to
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and requested a meeting with
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
. McKinley's position was that the tribes must conform to the decision of Congress. Parker and the other principal chiefs accepted that the fight against allotment was over, but Lone Wolf continued to argue against accepting allotment. In 1901, Lone Wolf and others hired William M. Springer, a former federal judge and US representative.


Supreme Court of the District of Columbia

On June 6, 1901, Springer filed suit in the
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...
, which is a different court than the United States Supreme Court. The plaintiffs asked for an
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
to stop the opening of KCA lands to settlement and the allotment of the land. Springer argued that the Jerome agreement deprived the tribes of their lands without
due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...
and in violation of the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
by breaking the treaty with the tribes. Springer alleged that the KCA were duped into signing the agreement and that it was not signed by three quarters of the members, as required by the treaty, that the KCA had protested the agreement from the beginning, and that the version which Congress ratified was different from the version signed by the KCA. While the suit was being heard, on August 6, 1901, the government began to sell off the tribes' surplus land. Judge A.C. Bradley ruled against Lone Wolf, holding that Congress had the authority to allot the land, citing ''
United States v. Kagama ''United States v. Kagama'', 118 U.S. 375 (1886), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. This Congressional act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain Indian-on-Indian ...
''.


Circuit Court of Appeals

Springer then appealed to the
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
.Wunder, at 702; Reilly, at 216-17. By the time that court heard the appeal, the reservation land had been allotted and excess land sold. The D.C. Circuit ruled that the question was not
justiciable Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...
, rather it was a
political question In United States constitutional law, the political question doctrine holds that a constitutional dispute that requires knowledge of a non-legal character or the use of techniques not suitable for a court or explicitly assigned by the Constitution ...
which had to be decided by Congress. The Court held that an act of Congress must prevail over any specific article in a treaty with an Indian tribe. The court further held that, in any event, the land did not belong to the tribe. It was controlled by the United States, with Indians as mere occupants. The Circuit Court affirmed the decision of the lower court.


Supreme Court


Arguments

At this point, the IRA hired another attorney, Hampton L. Carson, to take the lead from Springer. The arguments remained the same as they had in the lower courts: that the tribes were being deprived of their land without due process. The attorneys noted that the United States had never deprived a tribe of its land without some form of consent by the tribe.Reilly, at 217-19. Carson and Springer highlighted ''
Worcester v. Georgia ''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court Vacated judgment, vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal ...
'' and the Indian canon of construction in their arguments.
Willis Van Devanter Willis Van Devanter (April 17, 1859 – February 8, 1941) was an American lawyer who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1911 to 1937. He was a staunch conservative and was regarded as a part of the Four ...
argued the case for the United States, taking the position that Congress had the power to abrogate the treaty at will. Devanter cited ''Kagama'' as authority for Congress having plenary power over Indian matters.


Opinion of the court

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
Edward White delivered the opinion of the unanimous court. The Court held that Congress had the authority to void treaty obligations with Native American tribes because it had an inherent plenary power, noting: The decision was based, among other things, on a paternalistic view of the United States' relationship with the tribes: The decision presented American Indians as inferior in race, culture, and religion: White held that requiring tribal consent would actually hurt the tribes and that the tribes should presume that Congress would act in good faith to protect tribal needs. Justice
John Marshall Harlan John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Dissenter" due to his ...
concurred in the judgment but did not author a separate opinion.


Subsequent developments

Reports show that ninety percent of the land allotted to tribal members was lost by them to settlers. By the 1920s, the KCA tribes were impoverished, with an unemployment rate of sixty percent. By 1934, approximately , or two thirds of Indian lands, had been transferred to settlers. Until the
Meriam Report The Meriam Report (1928) (official title: ''The Problem of Indian Administration'') was commissioned by the Institute for Government Research (IGR, better known later as the Brookings Institution) and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The IGR a ...
was published, showing the destructive effects of the policy, the allotment process continued unchecked. By the time Congress ended allotment, the KCA land went from to about . Also, the Court's ruling meant that the only recourse left for Indian tribes to use to resolve land disputes was Congress. Indians were not eligible to bring a case in the
United States Court of Claims The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (), and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the n ...
under the
Tucker Act The Tucker Act (March 3, 1887, ch. 359, , ) is a federal statute of the United States by which the United States government has waived its sovereign immunity with respect to certain lawsuits. The Tucker Act may be divided into the "Big" Tucker A ...
, and were limited to actions in often hostile state courts. Legally, scholars have compared ''Lone Wolf'' to the infamous ''
Dred Scott Dred Scott (c. 1799 – September 17, 1858) was an Slavery in the United States, enslaved African Americans, African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and thei ...
'' case, and universally condemned the decision.Reilly, at 226.


See also

*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 187 This is a list of cases reported in volume 187 of ''United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1902 and 1903. Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 187 U.S. The Supreme Court is establi ...


Footnotes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * {{Native American rights 1903 in United States case law United States Native American treaty case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains Kiowa Indian Territory