Pritzker Legal Research Center: American Indian Law Resources: Treaties & Executive Materials

Treaty Compilations

The federal government entered into treaties with Indian tribes between 1778 and 1871.

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Native American Treaties
Your best source to find a treaty! An important new collection of 418 full text treaties gathered together by tribe and by topic with ample information about the agreement as well as full text. HeinOnline also contains nine additional agreements not identified by Kappler, seven of which were with Great Britain and are still recognized by the United States today.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties ("Kappler Report")
Compiled by Charles Kappler and others. This seven-volume compilation of laws, treaties, and executive orders covers 1778 to 1970. It is preferable to use on HeinOnline because that platform will let you easily search across all seven volumes.
Nine treaties missing from Kappler's
Nine treaties between the U.S. and native nations were missing from Kappler's compilation. They are digitized and made available at this site.

Kappler revisited : an index and bibliographic guide to American Indian treaties by Charles D. Bernholz
Call Number: Main Library Government Information - Lower Level Room B190 016.34102 B527k
ISBN: 0962958646
Publication Date: 2003
Corrects errors in the original Kappler Report and provides more robust cross-references and information about the treaties.

Statutes at Large: Indian Treaties
The Statutes at Large was the place to publish treaties in the early years of the United States. You may find citations to it elsewhere (ex. 14 Stat. 713), including in the Royce Maps. Look for the "browse by" area and a box that says "Indian Treaties." Clicking that brings you to a list of treaties gathered by the name of the tribe, alphabetically.

The following two articles provide information about how the treaties were treated by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts:

American Indian treaties and the Supreme Court: A guide to treaty citations from opinions of the United States Supreme Court/ Charles D.Bernholz
An article identifying the 307 United States Supreme Court opinions between 1799 and 2001 that cited one or more federally recognized American Indian treaty.
The absent American Indian treaties: A guide to treaties never referenced at the federal court level/ Charles D.Bernholz
Another article of Bernholz's work on American Indian treaties and their treatment by the courts.

Resources for Federal Executive Materials

Presidential proclamations and executive orders are other sources of authority in American Indian affairs.

Executive orders relating to Indian reservations, 1855-1922.
Very important source for finding executive orders from this time period. Look in the table of content for the state, then the tribe.
Compilation of Presidential Documents
Official publication of materials released by the White House Press Secretary. Covers 1965-2022.
Executive orders disposition tables (FDR-Obama)
Allows you to find the full text of executive orders, see when they were signed, and, in some cases, find amendments and see the current status of the executive order.
Current executive orders
Full text PDF's of the executive orders of the president, which may be helpful as certain information is taken down from websites.

Current regulations are organized by topic in the Code of Federal Regulations, including regulations that affect American Indians. These are at Title 25 of the CFR. Yes, that is the same title as the U.S. Code. Those things occasionally line up, but not always.

Title 25 ("Federal Native American Law Regulations") on Westlaw
Regulations promulgated by federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs.