Descendants of Mdewakanton Sioux Indians of Minnesota chose 2025’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day to file a lawsuit in the United States District Court of Federal Claims against the federal government. Looking to become a federally recognized Indian tribe, descendants of the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux are also seeking $5 billion for what they claim to be the illegal seizure of the Lake Pepin Reservation in 1851 from “half-breed” tribe members.
Under U.S.C Title 25, lineal descendants of the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux are demanding the rights and protections afforded to tribes by the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs. This includes compensation for ancestral land along the Minnesota River and the Mississippi River Valley in the state of Minnesota that was taken by the U.S. government despite provisions in the 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien intended to prevent this from happening. The plaintiffs allege that this was a breach of fiduciary duty by the government and a violation of trust obligations.
We Were Here First
Perhaps the gentlest way to describe the United States’ treatment of the American Indian tribes that occupied the nation before settlers arrived is that it’s extremely complicated. Forced relocations such as the Trail of Tears and the Long Walk of the Navajos have left indelible stains in American history concerning tribal relations.
There were many other instances of liberties taken with the acquisition of tribal lands, some of which involved the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux. By 1805, Dakota Sioux tribes in Minnesota had begun to experience the forced loss of their ancestral homes in exchange for federal annuities.
The 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien set aside 320,000 acres of land (around 500 square miles) west of Lake Pepin in Minnesota for mixed-heritage Dakota families. Federal negotiators struck a deal to purchase the land in 1849, but the U.S. Senate balked at the $200,000 price tag. The Treaties of Traverse de Sioux and Mendota in 1851 removed the protections for the Lake Pepin territories without consent from the Dakota tribe.
In the aftermath of the Dakota War of 1862, the federal government approved the execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato, Minnesota. Congress then voided treaties with the Dakota Sioux and some other Minnesota tribes, exiling most of them to South Dakota and Nebraska. More than a century later, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) won its fight to gain federal recognition in 1969. While that hasn’t always guaranteed later successes, it did prove that it could be achieved.
Don’t Recall Signing on any Dotted Line
The civil action, filed by Mdewakanton lineal descendant Tom Smith, has two goals. First, it wants the government to offer federal recognition to the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux descendants. Once established as a legal tribal entity, the lawsuit seeks monetary damages under the Tucker Act in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for the illegal taking of their land.
While Cobell v. Salazar serves as a precedent, awarding the $5 billion that the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux is seeking in damages would completely reset the bar for reparation deals between the government and Native Americans. Given the impending increase in the backlog of federal court cases, the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux may have to wait a little while longer to gain satisfaction for their claim that’s almost 200 years in the making.
Related Resources
- Unanimous Supreme Court Ruling Allows Family to Once Again Bring Lawsuit Over Mistaken Raid (FindLaw’s Federal Courts)
- What Is Native Peoples Laws? (Findlaw’s Choosing the Right Lawyer)
- Indian Tribes Subject to Lending Laws (FindLaw’s Federal Courts)
