Native Americans built democratic systems of governance

The Iroquois Confederacy's political structure may have shaped the US Constitution

Centuries before the US existed, six Indigenous nations—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora—united under a shared constitution known as the Great Law of Peace. Some historians argue that the framework of federalism and representative councils influenced the American founders.

The reservation system gives tribes limited self-governance while keeping them under federal control.

New England towns have practiced direct democracy since the 1700s

Town meetings in New England let residents vote directly on local budgets, laws, and policies. One of the oldest surviving forms of participatory democracy in the United States, the tradition dates back nearly 250 years.

One Native leader tried to save his people's land by building a nation

As the US pushed westward in the 19th century, one leader of the Ojibwe people fought back not with arms but with politics, seeking to preserve his people's territory and way of life by building a formal Native nation capable of negotiating on equal footing with the US government.

Colonial self-rule fostered strong autonomy and distrust of centralized power

American colonies were governed through a patchwork of different systems, ranging from Crown-run to locally controlled. Broad local autonomy—often followed by sudden imperial crackdowns—taught colonial leaders to prize home rule and distrust distant centralized power, attitudes that later informed US federalism.

The US has 575 federally recognized tribal nations, each a sovereign government.

A 1975 law let tribes run their own programs instead of relying on federal bureaucracies

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act allowed tribes to contract directly with the federal government to administer their own health, education, and social services—reversing policies from the "termination era."

Native Americans were not granted US citizenship until 1924

The Indian Citizenship Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US, more than 130 years after the Constitution's ratification. Even then, some states continued to deny Native Americans the right to vote for decades.

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

Matrilineal societies—where women led households—were common among Northeastern natives

Such societies also viewed women as leaders in spiritual matters. Both men and women held political roles as clan leaders and worked in tandem with an advisory council.

The Red Power movement pushed back against poverty and broken treaty rights in the 1960s and 1970s

Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous activists founded the American Indian Movement, a national advocacy organization, to protest excessive police violence and federal violations of treaty rights, drawing national attention to conditions on reservations.

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

A 2020 Supreme Court ruling affirmed that nearly half of Oklahoma remains tribal land

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Muscogee Nation's reservation was never legally dissolved, thereby stripping Oklahoma of authority to prosecute tribal members for crimes committed on that land. Season One of the "This Land" podcast further explores how reservation court systems operate.

The Mississippian culture mastered corn cultivation, long-distance trade, and complex governance

From roughly 1100 to 1540, Mississippian peoples across what is now the Southeastern United States mastered corn cultivation, built political structures that organized large populations, and maintained trade networks that spanned much of the continent.

Early Native Americans shifted from nomadic life to permanent settlements around 8500 B.C.E.

Around 8500-7900 B.C.E., many Indigenous groups began settling near rivers and lakes to harvest fish and hunt bison, moving away from a fully nomadic lifestyle. This shift toward semipermanent communities marks one of the earliest signs of organized settlement in North America.

The US government ran boarding schools designed to erase Native American identity

From the late 19th century into the 20th century, the federal government sent Native children to boarding schools under the philosophy of "kill the Indian, save the man." Children were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their cultures, and many endured abuse.

Native religious practices were suppressed for centuries before receiving federal protection in 1978

During the first two centuries of American history, the government frequently banned Native ceremonial dances, took sacred sites, and enrolled children in boarding schools where they were prevented from practicing their faith. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 committed the federal government to safeguarding Native spiritual practices.

The Archaic period marked Native Americans' shift from big-game hunting to foraging

Beginning around 8000 B.C.E., Indigenous peoples began relying on diverse food sources—including wild game, plants, seeds, and fish—and moved away from large-mammal hunting. Archaeological findings from this era suggest some communities began cultivating crops and establishing irrigation systems, indicating a shift toward less-nomadic lifestyles.

The EPA works directly with Indigenous nations to protect native lands

Through the National EPA-Tribal Science Council, the agency works directly with federally recognized tribes, supporting air and water monitoring, pollution cleanup, and environmental restoration. Special grant programs also exist to enable tribes to develop their own environmental programs and enhance their technical capacity.

The common 'Three Sisters' mound-planting system used by natives

In the 17th century, Native Americans cultivated a three-plant combination of corn, beans, and squash—a symbiotic tradition dating back hundreds of years. The corn allowed the beans to climb, the beans fertilized the plants by extracting nitrogen from the air, and the squash leaves protected the soil and preserved moisture. Learn more about the tradition here.

Federal systems are a minority among the United Nations' 193 members

Of the United Nations' 193 member countries, roughly two dozen use a federal system, dividing power constitutionally between national and subnational governments. This group includes the United States, India, Canada, Germany, and more. The video walks through examples of how these states operate.

Pontiac's Rebellion prompted Britain to draw a line between colonists and Native lands in 1763

After the French and Indian War, a coalition of Indigenous nations—led by Odawa leader Pontiac—launched a major uprising against British forts. In response, Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which reserved lands west of the Appalachian Mountains for Native peoples.

The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up communally held tribal lands

Sometimes called the General Allotment Act, the Dawes Act divided reservation land into individual plots assigned to Native Americans, while "surplus" land was sold to white settlers. The policy led to Native tribes losing roughly 90 million acres, about two-thirds of their remaining land.

Tribal casinos have generated billions in revenue

After Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, granting tribes the legal right to operate casinos on reservation land, tribal gaming expanded dramatically. Today, tribal gaming ranks among the largest revenue sources for participating tribes.

The Wampanoag Nation inhabited the northeastern coast of North America for 12,000 years before European contact killed an estimated two-thirds of their population in a single generation.

How the Navajo nation works

Tribal reservations control over 89,000 square miles of land in the US, roughly 2.5% of all US land. While individual tribes are recognized as sovereigns, they are not viewed as countries by the US government. Learn how the Navajo nation in...

Tribal courts handle justice on reservations, but face strict limits on whom they can prosecute

Reservation-based courts handle civil and criminal cases, but federal law sharply limits their authority over non-tribal members. As a result, non-Native individuals who commit crimes on reservations often fall outside tribal jurisdiction, creating potential gaps in accountability.

Explore a map of global native lands

This interactive map visualizes Indigenous territories across the world. Users can search by location, language, or tribe to explore the histories, cultures, and present-day communities connected to specific lands.

Native students fought back against forced assimilation at US boarding schools

Despite harsh conditions, Native American students preserved their identities by secretly speaking their languages, maintaining cultural practices, and, in some cases, running away.

Discover the deep history of Indigenous Hand Talk

This video explores Plains Indian Sign Language, part of a broader system known as Hand Talk that dates back centuries. It traces regional variations across North America—and how residential schools worked to suppress its use.

The creation of the parks often involved displacing Native tribes

Early parks like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite involved the removal of tribal communities like the Shoshone, Crow, and Nez Percé, undermining the popular narrative that parks preserved an uninhabited wilderness.

How America became a nation of gamblers

For thousands of years, humans have liked to gamble. What started as dice games and betting on chariot races became a way for states to generate revenue here in America. This article explores how states have been using gambling to pay for infrastructure and capital projects–and the cost it’s had on the citizens.

European diseases killed a massive share of the Native American population

After Western contact, epidemic diseases devastated Indigenous communities. By 1920, the Native American population of the US had fallen to roughly 270,000, compared with an estimated 1.2 to 18 million at the time of European arrival.

Europeans' arrival to America brought disease to Indigenous populations

Indigenous people lived in the Americas for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 15th century. Their arrival was disastrous for Native tribes; in addition to being enslaved and losing their land, they had no natural immunity to the diseases brought by colonists. Eventually, up to 95% of the Native American population was killed by illnesses including typhus, chickenpox, and cholera, an event now known as the Great Dying.

The Revolution split the Iroquois Confederacy, as members allied with different sides.

American local government comes in five distinct forms

Counties, municipalities, townships, special districts, and school districts are each created for a different purpose, operating under different rules, and answerable to the state in different ways. Special districts, the least known of the group, are created for specific purposes, such as transit or fire protection.

Native American tribes still are waiting for museums to return the remains of their ancestors

The remains of more than 100,000 Native Americans are held by prestigious US institutions, despite a 1990 law meant to return them to tribal nations. Here’s how their ancestors were stolen—and how tribes are working to get them back.

A 1990 law forced museums and federal agencies to return Native remains and sacred objects

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required federally funded institutions to inventory and return Native American human remains and sacred items to descendant tribes.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans

Signed by President Andrew Jackson, the act authorized the federal government to negotiate treaties relocating Native nations from their Southeastern homelands to lands west of the Mississippi, often by force.

The global practice of public speaking

The epic "Gilgamesh and Aga," which dates back to 1900-1600 BCE, features a speech by the Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh in which he tries to convince his city's all-male assembly to agree to fight an invading army. Surviving records indicate many ancient cultures, including those in China, India, and North America, had rich public speaking traditions, at least some of which survived time and colonization.

In the 1950s, the federal government tried to dissolve tribal nations and end their sovereignty

A federal policy called "termination" withdrew official recognition from more than 100 tribes in the 1950s, cutting off federal services and subjecting reservation land to state taxes and sale.

What did democracy really mean in Athens?

Ancient Athens chose the vast majority of its public servants by lottery, a process of random selection known as sortition. Roughly 30,000 people were eligible for the lottery to serve as jurors, magistrates, and more. Monthly assemblies called the "ekklesia" occurred where anyone could attend and speak, but 500 governing council members called the "Boule" set the agenda.

More than 300 distinct Native American languages existed at the time of European contact

Indigenous North America exhibited vast linguistic diversity, with over 300 languages spanning dozens of unrelated language families. This variety reflected centuries of distinct cultural development across the continent's many nations and regions.

Visualize every time Congress has mentioned the word 'democracy' since 1880, and why

This Pudding interactive analyzes every mention of "democracy" in the Congressional Record over 145 years, charting how the word shifted from a partisan label to a concept, and tracking when lawmakers warned the system itself was under threat.

Independent redistricting commissions aim to take politics out of the map-drawing process

In several states, citizen or bipartisan panels draw congressional and legislative districts based on neutral criteria like population and geography. Learn more about how these commissions increase competitiveness in elections.

Indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest

Indigenous people have unrivalled knowledge of plants and animals and play a crucial role in conserving biodiversity. Protecting their rights preserves this unique knowledge.

Two doctrines of local governance determine how much power cities actually have

Under what is known as "Dillon's Rule," local governments can only exercise powers explicitly granted by the state. Under "home rule," cities have broader self-governing authority—but the balance between the two depends entirely on state law.

The Wampanoag collaborated with the Pilgrims in order to survive

Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.

Cases during John Marshall's tenure defined the principles of federal Indian law

During Marshall's tenure, three landmark rulings—Johnson v. M'Intosh, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, and Worcester v. Georgia—established foundational doctrines of federal Indian law, defining tribal sovereignty, limiting state authority, and placing primary responsibility for Native affairs in the federal government.

The US framework of government has influenced the constitutions of many other countries

In 1787, the US Constitution introduced a system built on the separation of powers and individual liberties, including freedom of speech and religion. Though widely influential, its rigidity has made it less of a modern model as countries adopt more adaptable constitutional frameworks.