
1980, Sioux Nation v U.S.
The legal complaint of the Sioux Nation since the many violations of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty has not ceased. After losing the greater portion of 7 million acres of prime real estate in 1877, the now-assimilating Native Americans decide to work within the legal system of their oppressors. After a succession of lawsuits and committee findings within various governmental bodies empowered at various points to adjudicate Native American complaints, the court case The Sioux Nation v. The United States is filed against the U.S. Government for violation of treaty and theft of the land in the Black Hills.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court, deliberating the case Sioux Nation v. United States, delivers a judgment for the Sioux Nation, awarding the sum of $106 million as repayment for the land which was lost. The value is seen by many Native Americans to be highly insulting, since it represented only the original value of the land as it was assessed in the late 1800s and did not include the value of any gold (or later, uranium) which had
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