At the National Constitution Center, we value civil dialogue, which empowers students to speak about constitutional and historical topics in ways that remain civil, respectful, and reflective. As you prepare to discuss these topics in your classroom, we encourage you to establish norms such as:
- Stay calm
- Listen patiently
- Listen actively
- Don’t speak twice until everybody has spoken once
You can find more support for establishing norms and civil dialogue practices in our Civil Dialogue Toolkit.
Media Asset
America’s Town Hall: Native Nations: From Ancient Cities to Today (full video)
Excerpts for this Constitution in the Headlines
[41:39 – 46:47]: Cherokee Nation and their story of sovereignty and republicanism
[46:48 – 54:33]: Native Americans and citizenship
Big Constitutional Question
- How have constitutional principles and federal law influenced the sovereignty and citizenship of Native nations in the 19th and 20th centuries?
Headline Story
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal discusses her new book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, tracing a thousand years of Native history—from the rise of ancient cities and the arrival of Europeans to today’s ongoing fights for sovereignty. Thomas Donnelly, chief scholar of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This Constitution in the Headlines focuses the conversation on the Cherokee nation, their sovereignty, and the history of Native citizenship throughout the 20th century.
Amendment / Clause Focus
Scholar Perspectives
|
Scholar |
Key Ideas & Quote |
Why It Matters |
|
Kathleen DuVal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
“The Cherokee were not trying to become like the United States, they already had long-standing traditions of governance. Their written constitution was a way to show they were a nation in the eyes of the world.” |
Dr. DuVal explains that the Cherokee didn’t copy the United States. They already had a strong history of self-governance. Writing a constitution was their way of showing the United States. that they met the U.S. government’s vision a modern nation. Even though the Cherokee wrote a constitution, built courts and a legislature, and published a national newspaper, the United States still didn’t fully accept their sovereignty. |
|
Thomas Donnelly, |
“Citizenship wasn’t something Native people were seeking as individuals. Their primary allegiance was to their tribal nations. When U.S. citizenship was imposed in 1924, it added another layer, without replacing Native identity.” |
Mr. Donnelly says the Cherokee Constitution proved that Native nations could govern themselves. But the U.S. Supreme Court still treated them as dependent on the United States This raised a big constitutional question: Can Native nations be fully sovereign? |
|
Kathleen DuVal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
“The Cherokee Constitution directly challenged the Supreme Court’s assumptions about tribal nations. They were showing they could do what the U.S. claimed made a nation legitimate: self-government through law.” |
Dr. DuVal says Native Americans didn’t think of themselves as U.S. citizens at first. Their loyalty was to their own nations. In 1924, the United States granted them citizenship but didn’t take away their tribal identity. Today, they are citizens of two nations. |
|
Thomas Donnelly, |
“Even after the Indian Citizenship Act, many Native Americans were still denied the right to vote by states. So, we see that citizenship alone doesn’t guarantee constitutional equality.” |
Mr. Donnelly explains that even after Native people got U.S. citizenship in 1924, some states still blocked them from voting. This shows that being a citizen isn’t always enough to be treated equally under the Constitution. |
Primary Source (Embedded Excerpts)
- Indian Removal Act
- Worcester v. Georgia: the laws of Georgia have no say in the Cherokee nation
- Indian Citizenship Act 1924
- Indian New Deal, also known as the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
Download Think, Talk, Create PDF
Think, Talk, Create
Student Questions
- How did the Cherokee Nation represent a modern republic in the 19th Century? How did the Cherokee claim of sovereignty complicate the relationship between the Cherokee and the United States throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries?
- Why do tribal scholars and historians like Kathleen DuVal identify the 1880s-1920s as the “worst time” for Native nations?
- Explain in your own words why having dual citizenship helps Native nations retain their sovereignty, as Kathleen DuVal suggests.
Student Choice Options
- Using the Retell in Rhyme protocol, compose your understanding of the story of the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation and/or the story of Native Americans and citizenship in what is now the United States. You may use the template provided or construct your poem in whatever form of poetry you wish.
- Choose a primary source text from the NCC’s Founders’ Library on the topic of Native American history. A suggested list:
Read and annotate the source, then answer the following questions:
- How does the text I read compare to historian DuVal’s interpretation of Native history?
- Why is learning about Native American history essential to understanding a fuller history of the United States?
- As a class, refer to your co-constructed classroom norms. Then, engage in a civil dialogue about Native American history. Consider having students generate questions, like a Harkness discussion, based on their research and engagement with this Constitution in the Headlines content or provide them with guiding questions such as:
- How is the story of Native Americans intertwined with the broader constitutional history of the United States?
- How have constitutional principles and federal law influenced the sovereignty and citizenship of Native nations in the 19th and 20th centuries?
Beyond the Headlines
- We The People Podcast: Native Americans and the Supreme Court (2024)
- Interactive Constitution
- Article I, Section 8 – Commerce Clause
- Article I, Section 2 – Congressional Representation
- Article VI - Treaties
- Founders’ Library
