Aboriginal title in New Mexico facts for kids
Aboriginal land title in New Mexico is a special way that land ownership for Native American groups, especially the Pueblo people, is handled in New Mexico. It's different from how land is owned by other Native American groups in the United States. After the U.S. took over this land from Mexico in the 1840s, laws were made to define these land rights.
However, for a long time, courts in New Mexico and even the Supreme Court of the United States thought that the Pueblo people could sell their lands without needing permission from the U.S. government. But in 1913, the Supreme Court changed its mind. This made the ownership of a lot of land in New Mexico unclear. To fix this, the U.S. Congress passed special laws in 1924 and 1933. These laws aimed to settle who owned the land and how to pay people fairly if their land claims were affected.
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History of Pueblo Land Rights
Early Days: Spanish and Mexican Rule
When the Spanish first met the Pueblo people in 1541, they mostly respected the Pueblo's right to their land. In 1689, the King of Spain even gave some official land titles to the Pueblo communities.
U.S. Takes Over: New Mexico as a Territory
In 1848, after a war with Mexico, the U.S. gained most of what is now New Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A few years later, in 1851, the U.S. Congress officially extended a law called the Nonintercourse Act to New Mexico. This act was supposed to stop Native American lands from being sold without Congress's approval.
But even with this law, courts in New Mexico and the U.S. Supreme Court kept ruling that the Pueblo people could sell their lands without needing Congress's permission.
New Mexico Becomes a State
New Mexico became a state in 1912. The laws for its statehood and its new constitution tried to protect Pueblo lands. They said that lands owned by Pueblo people would remain under the control of the U.S. Congress until their ownership was officially settled.
A Big Change: United States v. Sandoval (1913)
In a very important court case in 1913, called United States v. Sandoval, the Supreme Court changed its earlier decision. The Court now said that Pueblo lands *were* protected by the Nonintercourse Act. This meant that many land sales that had happened without government approval were now in question. At the time, it was thought that about 3,000 non-Native American people had bought land from the Pueblo. This created a big problem, and Congress had to step in to solve it.
The Pueblo Lands Act of 1924
To deal with the confusion over land ownership, Congress passed the Pueblo Lands Act on June 7, 1924. The main goal of this law was to finally sort out the complicated land claims involving the Pueblo people in New Mexico.
The Act created a special group called the Public Lands Board. This board included important government officials like the Attorney General and the Interior Secretary. The law said that if non-Native Americans had lived on and paid taxes on Pueblo land for many years (from 1889 to 1924), or if they had a legal-looking document for the land (from 1902 to 1924), then the Pueblo's original land claim would be ended for those specific areas.
The Act also said that the Pueblo people would get money if the U.S. government could have gotten their land back for them earlier. Non-Native Americans who had bought land before 1912 also received money, and those who bought land after 1912 received money for any improvements they made to the land.
The Act also made it clear that after 1924, no one could buy or claim Pueblo land without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. This rule was put in place to protect Pueblo lands going forward.
Important Court Cases After the Act
- United States v. Candelaria (1926): The Supreme Court said that the 1924 Act provided the main way for landowners to defend their claims if the government sued on behalf of the Pueblos for land sold before 1924.
- Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Pueblo of Santa Ana (1985): The Supreme Court decided that the Secretary of the Interior had the power to approve agreements about Pueblo lands. This meant that a telephone company's agreement with a Pueblo group needed this approval to be valid.
- United States v. Trujillo (1988): A court ruled that the Pueblo people could get their land back and receive money for damages if a non-Native American person had not properly registered their land claim with the Lands Board.
The 1933 Amendments
Congress updated the 1924 Pueblo Lands Act in 1933. These changes allowed the Pueblo communities to sue in court on their own behalf. The amendments also increased the amount of money the U.S. government would pay as compensation. Plus, the Secretary of the Interior was allowed to offer money to the Pueblos in exchange for them giving up certain legal claims.
New Mexico v. Aamodt (1976)
In 1976, a court decided that neither the 1926 nor the 1933 laws took away the Pueblo people's rights to water.
Court of Claims Cases
The Pueblo people have received some money from a special court called the Court of Federal Claims (and its earlier version, the Court of Claims). In some older cases, the court had said that decisions made by the Lands Board prevented further payments.
United States v. Thompson (1991)
In 1991, a court ruled that a claim by the Pueblo of Santo Domingo for a large area of land was blocked by the 1924 and 1933 Acts.
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