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1 without Federal approval or acquiescence, finds and declares

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(1) there are currently a number of Indian tribes asserting claims against landowners and communities

for possession of millions of acres of land in the Eastern United States, and related trespass damages, on

the ground that the original transfers of these lands to

non-Indians generations ago were made without Feder

al approval and hence were in violation of, inter alia, the Nonintercourse Act provision of the Trade ar:d Intercourse Act of 1790, other laws of the United States, the United States Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, or ancient treaties;

(2) for various reasons, including the fact that the States and the legislative and executive branches of the Government of the United States were, with re

spect to certain claimants, unaware that the United

States may have had an obligation to approve such 19 transfers and, with respect to other claimants, specifi

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cally denied any such obligation, the Federal Government may have failed to fulfill this alleged obligation; (3) the actions and inactions of the Federal Gov

ernment over the decades and centuries since the original transfers have resulted in the belief that the Feder

al Government had fulfilled whatever responsibility it

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may have had to these Indian tribes, and, consequently, in generations of landowners and local and State governments justifiably relying on the validity of the original transfers and the claims of title emanating therefrom, and in the making in good faith of substantial investments in and improvements upon these lands; (4) any judicial determination that these ancient transfers were invalid will cause significant economic

dislocation and disruption to numerous State and local

governments and hundreds of thousands of landowners;

(5) Congress agrees with the statements made by several courts and executive branch officials, including past Attorneys General of the United States, who upon

examination of the nature and consequences of these

claims have expressed the view that these ancient Indian land claims cannot be resolved fairly and equita

bly through litigation against innocent private landown

ers but compel action by Congress;

(6) the primary purpose of the Nonintercourse Act. provision of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790,

which was to ensure fairness in the transactions by

which Indian tribes conveyed their lands to non-Indi

ans, can be secured by now compensating Indian tribes to the extent that those tribes did not receive fair com

pensation for such conveyances; and

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(7) to the extent that prior actions by the United

States have not constituted whatever Federal approval

may have been necessary to validate these ancient land transfers, it is the intent of Congress by means of this

Act to provide such approval and validation, and to provide Indian tribes that are affected by such approval and validation with a means of obtaining fair compen

sation, which shall be the exclusive remedy for the satisfaction of any claim against the United States, any State or local government, or any other person or

entity, that such Indian tribes may otherwise have by virtue of the transfers in question.

13 (b) Therefore, in the exercise of the full constitutional 14 authority of Congress, it is the purpose of this Act

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(1) to remove the clouds on the titles to land located within the States of New York and South Carolina resulting from the claims of Indian tribes that transfers of such lands prior to January 1, 1912, were in violation of the United States Constitution, the Articles

of Confederation, the laws of the United States, including the Nonintercourse Act provision of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790, or any other legal require

ment;

(2) to approve, validate, and ratify all such transfers effective as of the date of such transfers and with

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the same effect as if such approval, validation, and ratification had been given at the time of the transfers;

and

(3) to provide Indian tribes affected by this Act with a means of obtaining fair and equitable compensation for their claims, including a cause of action in the Court of Claims against the United States for monetary compensation.

DEFINITIONS

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SEC. 3. For purposes of this Act, the term—

(a) "Indian tribe" includes any Indian nation or tribe of Indians, or any other body of Indians of the same or similar race, united in community under one

leadership or government, and inhabiting a particular or sometimes ill-defined territory;

(b) "land or natural resources" means any real property or natural resources, or any interest in or right involving any real property or natural resources, including without limitation minerals and mineral rights, timber and timber rights, water and water rights, and hunting and fishing rights;

(c) "laws of the United States" means the Articles of Confederation, all Federal, State, and Colonial statutes, treaties, proclamations, executive agreements,

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orders, regulations, and common law principles, and all judicial interpretations thereof;

(d) the "Nonintercourse Act provision of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790" means section 4

of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790, Act of July 22, 1790, chapter 33, section 4 (1 Stat. 137, 138), and all amendments thereto and all subsequent reenactments or versions thereof;

(e) the "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior or his designate; and

(f) "transfer" includes but is not limited to any sale, grant, lease, allotment, partition or conveyance, any transaction the purpose of which was to effect a sale, grant, lease, allotment, partition or conveyance, or any event or events that resulted in a change of possession or control of land or natural resources.

RATIFICATION OF PRIOR TRANSFERS AND

EXTINGUISHMENT OF RELATED CLAIMS

SEC. 4. (a) Any transfer of land or natural resources

20 located within the States of New York and South Carolina 21 from, by, or on behalf of any Indian tribe, including without 22 limitation a transfer pursuant to any statute of or agreement 23 or treaty with any State, made or effected prior to January 24 1, 1912, was and shall be deemed to have been made in 25 accordance with the Constitution and all laws of the United

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