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In Defense of Sovereignty
Protecting the Oneida Nation's Inherent Right to Self-Determination
Rebecca M. Webster
Foreword by Richard Monette
With contributions by James R. Bittorf, William Gollnick, Frederick E. Hoxie, Arlinda F. Locklear, and James W. Oberly
CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title
“This singular volume illustrates the conflicts most Indigenous nations have had with the governments of this country. Webster offers clear and formidable arguments for the inherent rights of all Native nations to life, self-governance, safety, and sovereignty.”
—Ms. Magazine
A rallying cry and nuanced history of sovereignty by an Oneida Nation citizen and attorney
In Defense of Sovereignty tells the story of the Oneida Nation’s struggles for self-determination. Since the removal of the Oneida people from New York in the 1820s to what would become Wisconsin, the Nation has been engaged in legal conflicts to retain its sovereignty and its lands. Legal scholar and former Oneida Nation senior staff attorney Rebecca M. Webster traces this history, including the Nation’s treaties with the US but focusing especially on its relationship with the village of Hobart, Wisconsin. Since 2003, six disputes have led to litigation between the local government and the Nation. Central to these disputes are Hobart’s attempts to regulate the Nation and relegate its government to the position of a common landowner, subject to municipal authority.
As in so many conflicts between Indigenous nations and local municipalities, the media narrative about the Oneida Nation’s battle for sovereignty has been dominated by the local government’s standpoint. In Defense of Sovereignty offers another perspective, that of a citizen directly involved in the litigation, augmented by contributions from historians, attorneys, and a retired Nation employee. It makes an important contribution to public debates about the inherent right of Indigenous nations to continue to exist and exercise self-governance within their territories without being challenged at every turn.
Rebecca M. Webster, an associate professor in the American Indian studies department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, is a former senior staff attorney for the Oneida Nation. She is the author of Our Precious Corn: Yukwanénste and the coeditor of Tribal Administration Handbook, and her articles can be found in American Indian Quarterly, Planning Theory &amb; Practice, Wisconsin Lawyer, Ethnohistory, and the Journal of American Indian Education.
Praise
“Tells a story of resilience that will resonate with many audiences and should be widely read. . . . The book is a tool to communicate knowledge and experience to the next generation of Indigenous leaders and tribal advocates, and belongs in every collection.”
—Choice
“This valuable book lays out the features of a legal and political strategy to defend a reservation-boundaries case. This material is very readable, even thrilling in places where tribal citizens detail their ongoing, real-world struggles with the Village of Hobart. Successful and compelling.”
—Matthew L. M. Fletcher, author of Ghost Road: Anishinaabe Responses to Indian Hating
“In Defense of Sovereignty is the story of what happens when racially tinged rhetoric and litigation becomes costly intergovernmental tension that lasts for decades. Dr. Rebecca Webster, a former tribal attorney, tells a compelling story that should be required reading for every politician whose municipality interacts with Native nations.”
—Patty Loew, author of Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal
“A compelling account of the Oneida Nation’s struggle to retain its sovereignty and its reservation lands. This book describes jurisdictional battles that Indian nations in the United States are continually confronted with and provides helpful instruction on how these nations can work on a government-to-government basis with their neighbors. It offers hope that Indian nations can preserve their cultural and political integrity and continue to prosper and thrive.”
—Kent McNeil, author of Flawed Precedent: The “St. Catherine’s” Case and Aboriginal Title
“An intimate and informative account of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. There are two major themes: the Oneidas’ complex history and their modern efforts to regain sovereignty. After migrating from New York in the 1820s, the Oneidas faced an unusually complex struggle for treaty land. Later they were harsh victims of the government’s allotment laws, the worst policy Congress imposed on tribes. The book’s modern parts detail legal struggles against the state municipal government that covers half the Oneida Reservation.”
—Richard Collins, University of Colorado
“An extraordinary and seminal work of impeccable scholarship. . . . Absolutely essential and unreservedly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Richard Monette
Preface
Introduction: This Will Be Our Legacy
Rebecca M. Webster
1 The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and the Oneida Indian Reservation, 1821–1880
James W. Oberly
2 From Allotment to the Indian New Deal, 1887–1934
Frederick E. Hoxie
3 Evolution of a Nation
William Gollnick
4 Condemnation: Resisting Development on Nation-Owned Land
Rebecca M. Webster
5 Dispatching the Police: Brown County and Oneida Nation Intergovernmental Agreement
Rebecca M. Webster
6 Overcoming Restrictive Covenants to Reacquire Reservation Land
Rebecca M. Webster
7 Stormwater Taxes: “Anyway There Are No Tribal Debts to Hobart”
Rebecca M. Webster
8 The Big Apple Fest Case: The Village of Hobart’s Failed Attempt to Put an End to the Oneida Reservation and Obtain Control over the Oneida Nation
James R. Bittorf and Arlinda F. Locklear
9 Rebuilding the Nation’s Land Base, One Fee-to-Trust Application at a Time
Rebecca M. Webster
Conclusion: “Dear Sir: I Am an Oneida Indian Living on the Reservation”
Rebecca M. Webster
Glossary of Key Terms
Notes
Index
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Larger images
New in Paperback!
December 2024
LC: 2022022453 E
208 pp. 5.5 x 8.5
4 b/w illus.
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