Navajo Water Rights Essay

Navajo culture distinctively took hold in the four corners area of the Colorado Plateau around 100 A.D., although they are believed to have been around for centuries before then. Disliking the term “Navajo Indians”, they refer to themselves as the “Diné” which means “The People” or “Children of the Holy People”.

The United States federal government tried to resolve its bond with many different Native tribes by treaties. The treaties were formal agreements between the United States government and the Native Americans. Treaties were made by the executive branch on behalf of the president and then ratified by the United States Senate. The treaties made it where Native American Indians would give up their rights to hunt and live on huge sections of land that they had inhabited in exchange for trade goods, houses, and assurances that no further demands would be made on the said treaties (NebraskaStudies.Org). The United States broke many treaties between the Native Americans, but there were three major treaties that had an impact on the extinction of the

In order for the plan to go into action, on October 31, 1862, the establishment of the Fort Sumner was declared and war was made against the Mescalero Apache and Navajo Indian tribes (Robert 2004). As shown in figure 1, a 300 miles route was walked by children, women, and men for about two months. Once they reached the destination, an estimation of 200 people had died from starvation. A couple years later had gone by when the United States decided to introduce a treaty in1868 that allowed the Navajos to return to their homes also now called the reservations.

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, september 27, 1830 - It was the first official treaty signed over the indian removal and it also began the process of it.

The government began signing the treaties with the First Nations post-Royal Proclamation of 1763. The numbered treaties, however, came into play around the 1870s, after the buffalo population declined drastically and many bands were depopulated because of disease. During 1871-77, seven treaties were signed and four more were signed between 1899 and 1921. The treaties were negotiated orally, but when they were being documented by government negotiators many oral promises were missed. Basically, the intent was completely misunderstood. The First Nations also believed that the money they received was a gift given in exchange of sharing the land with the settlers, not for surrendering their land. They also expected the promises to last “As

The Colorado River Basin starts in the Rocky Mountains and cuts through 1500 miles of canyon lands and deserts of seven US states and two Mexican states to supply a collection of dams and reservoirs with water to help irrigate cropland, support 40 million people, and provide hydroelectric power for the inland western United States [1,2]. From early settlement, rights over the river have been debated and reassigned to different states in the upper and lower basin; however, all the distribution patterns lead to excessive consumption of the resource. In 1922, the seven US states signed into the Colorado River Compact, which outlined the policy for the distribution rights to the water [3], however, this compact was written during an exceptionally

The Constitution provides clear Native American protection from governmental land confiscation in Article VI, Section 2. The relevant section states, "…All Treaties made; or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land"(Farber [9]). The United States signed 371 treaties with Indian tribes between 1790 and 1870 (Churchill, Struggle for the Land 20). Treaties were made for a variety of purposes, such as "mutual protection, peace, in support and regulation of trade with the Indians, to provide for military posts, [and] to wrest land from the Natives"

Every culture has their own way of life, their own religious beliefs, their own marriage beliefs, their own values and feelings on life and the options it has to offer. Each culture has their own way to run things within their own government, and own way to keep their economy up to their standards. Also each culture and society have their own primary mode of subsistence that makes them unique. Among the Navajo culture their primary mode of subsistence are pastoralists.   Pastoralists have an impact on different aspects with in the culture.   The aspects that I will be discussing will be the Navajo’s beliefs and values, economic organization, gender relations and sickness and healing.

When first considering the Navajo-Hopi land dispute as a topic of research, I anticipated a relatively light research paper discussing the local skirmishes between the two tribes. However, my research has yielded innumerable volumes of facts, figures and varying viewpoints on a struggle that has dominated the two tribes for over 100 years. The story is an ever-changing one, evolving from local conflict to forcible relocation to big business interests. The incredible breadth of the dispute's history makes it impossible to objectively cover the entire progression from all viewpoints. I will therefore focus on current issues - and their historical causes - facing the two tribes as they mutually approach

In 1851 the Fort Laramie Treaty was formed, over eight thousand men, women and children came together and formed an alliance. Enemies, relatives and families came together to form nearly three hundred of their soldiers. Man was beginning to intrude on the land of the Indians and the Indians knew they had to do something. Many enemies became friends, which would also help their future as tribes.

The Treaty between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians was signed in New Mexico in May of 1868. The Treaty is also known as The Treaty of Bosque Redondo and was set forth to help create peace between the settlers and the native people.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe currently fights to save its only water source from natural gas and oil contamination. This troubling current event has a somewhat forgotten historical analogue where very similar themes presented themselves. The Kinzua Dam Controversy, which took place in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, resulted in the displacement of over 600 Seneca Indian families and the acquisition of a large tract of traditional Seneca Land for dam building. Additionally, the acquisition of Seneca land represented a breach of “The Treaty with the Six Nations of 1794,” which explicated prevented such action by the US Government. The dam and its construction, which primarily benefitted Pittsburg, inspired a heated discourse concerning the ethics of native relocation.

Within the Navajo Nation there is a legitimacy by procedures because it selects its leaders to govern the people which are affected by these issues. However, the cry of the people is said that “the thing that keeps the Navajo in poverty is water” which continues to sign

The world view of the Navajo who had lived for many centuries on the high Colorado Plateau was one of living in balance with all of nature, as the stewards of their vast homeland which covered parts of four modern states. They had no concept of religion as being something separate from living day to day and prayed to many spirits. It was also a matriarchal society and had no single powerful leader as their pastoral lifestyle living in scattered independent family groups require no such entity. This brought them repeatedly into conflict with Spanish, Mexicans and increasingly by the mid-nineteenth century, Americans as these practices were contrary to their male dominated religiously monolithic societal values. The long standing history

This journal evaluates the nature of Indian water rights in their reservations. It also evaluates the use of tribal sovereignty to protect water rights in Indian country. Indian country in the United States uses their land for many hazardous practices to help their economic output. Their concern is to maintain a good economic status by using their land that is not regulated by the states. The Indian reservation was created for the benefit of the Indian tribes, not the U.S. government. Lately, we have seen a lot of mining, oil & gas, and fracking activities in their land.