In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the National Constitution Center is hosting a series of programs and activities highlighting the history of Indigenous peoples.
*Check daily program guide upon arrival for showtimes.
What intellectual sources did the founders use when drafting the Constitution? Join us as we examine the influence Indigenous peoples and tribal governments like the Iroquois Confederacy had on the founders and the ideas enshrined in the Constitution.
*Available on weekends only.
Travel back in time to the 17th century to see how the Wampanoag people made their own toys. Join us for a corn husk doll workshop, discover how the Wampanoag children learned through play, and create your own corn husk doll to take home.
Stop by our activity tables to explore a map of the United States before it was the United States. Commemorate Native American Heritage Month and discover more about the land and its inhabitants that called it home long before the founders.
The languages spoken by Native Americans are as diverse as the people themselves. Visitors can learn some words and phrases in Lenape/Delaware, the language spoken by the Lenape peoples who once inhabited this very land.
Wednesday, November 1 | Noon ET
Join historians Ned Blackhawk, Brenda Child, and Richard White for a conversation on Blackhawk’s national bestseller, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History—a sweeping retelling of American history. They will explore five centuries of U.S. history to shed light on the central role Indigenous peoples have played in shaping our nation’s narrative. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Register hereFriday, November 3 | Noon ET
What intellectual sources did the founders use when drafting the Constitution? Join us as we examine the influence Indigenous peoples and tribal governments like the Iroquois Confederacy had on the founders and the ideas enshrined in the Constitution.
Register HereFriday, November 17 | Noon ET
Learn about the Wampanoag people who lived in what is now New England, and the historic meal they shared with European settlers in 1621. We’ll explore more about the Wampanoag and their culture, the events leading up to the harvest feast that year, and what food would have been eaten (it may surprise you).
Register HereIn celebration of Native American Heritage Month, join experts Maggie Blackhawk of New York University School of Law; Donald Grinde, Jr. of the University at Buffalo and co-author of Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy; Gregory Dowd of the University of Michigan; and Woody Holton of the University of South Carolina and author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution, for a conversation exploring the influence of indigenous people and tribal governments on the U.S. Constitution and American democracy, from before the Revolution to today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
In November 2022, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act. Passed by Congress in 1978, ICWA establishes standards for the adoption of Native American children, by stipulating a preference that they be placed with extended family members or other Native American families. Opponents of ICWA say that exceeds Congress’ powers and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, by imposing unconstitutional race-based classifications and discriminating against non-Native American foster parents. Defenders of ICWA say the distinctions the law draws between Native and non-Native Americans are political, rather than racial, because tribes are political entities; and that the law helps protect tribal sovereignty and the cultural heritage of Native American children. Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and Elizabeth Reese of Stanford Law join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the arguments in the case and discuss the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed into law the Indian Citizenship Act, which marked the end of a long debate and struggle, at the federal level, over full birthright citizenship for American Indians.
Signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson, the Removal Act authorized the president to negotiate with Native American tribes for federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. Although some tribes accepted the Act, others such as the Cherokees resisted. During the fall and winter of 1838-39, the Cherokee were forcibly removed by the United States government in a march that later became known as the Trail of Tears.
Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader who was born around 1768, is best known for organizing a confederation of Native nations to combat the settlers flooding into native lands following the Treaty of Fort Wayne, an 1809 agreement made with some nations in the Indiana Territory, requiring the sale of three million acres to the United States government. In a speech to the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, Tecumseh challenged the treaty, arguing that it was impossible for individual groups to agree to land sales, because the land belonged to Native people collectively. More was at stake than title to the land. Tecumseh was questioning the basic presumption that underlays not just the Treaty of Fort Wayne, but also the U.S. Constitution and all federal policy relating to land and Native people more generally: that the United States exercised sovereignty over all the land within the territorial boundaries it claimed and would incorporate that land as states. Harrison and other federal agents did not just want the title to Native lands; they also wanted to dismantle the territorial basis for Native nations’ claims to a separate existence within the boundaries of the United States. There are many versions of this speech, which was delivered orally; this summary comes from the records of Governor Harrison.
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