Claiming Turtle Mountain’s Constitution: The History, Legacy, and Future of a Tribal Nation’s Founding Documents

By Keith Richotte Jr.
University of North Carolina Press (2017) 289 pages

Review by Gerald “Carty” Monette

In his book, Keith Richotte Jr. explains how tribal constitutions evolved. By 1959, enabled by the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), nearly every federally recognized Indian tribe had adopted a constitution. A small number of tribes—around 30—had adopted a constitution well before the IRA became law. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa was one of them. Coerced by federal agents in the late 1950s, Turtle Mountain did away with its people- driven, pre-IRA constitution and adopted the template promoted by the federal government. Turtle Mountain’s long history with constitutional governance, its signing of several significant treaties dating back to the mid-1800s, and its history with the furtrading industry make the band ideal for studying the emergence of tribal constitutions. An enrolled Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Richotte writes,“Turtle Mountain’s story offers a useful foundation . . . that widens our understanding of constitutionalism throughout Indian Country.”

Richotte employs an innovative approach to write his book. He posits the point of view of Turtle Mountain tribal members, citing sources that have been unknown or discarded from the official record of tribal constitutional history. from letters, notes, articles, speeches, minutes of meetings, and oral histories Richotte synthesizes the arguments of tribal members and of federal officials as both move toward a constitutional form of government.

The 12-page conclusion reports on Turtle Mountain’s failure to adopt a new constitution in the early 2000s. Here, Richotte injudiciously abandons the creditable approach of writing about the people’s genuine experiences. Instead, he relies on unnamed sources, federal documents, newspaper articles, etc. This approach is incongruous because individuals involved are still living. Richotte neglects to interview people, including myself who was serving as president of Turtle Mountain Community College. Still, he correctly attributes the college as being central to the revision effort. The final vote was very close with 2,050 voting against and 1,993 voting in favor—a 57-vote difference. He fails to sufficiently connect factors that contributed to its narrow defeat, such as pushback from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and several federal indictments and convictions of elected tribal leaders. The result is half-finished writing.

In spite of its shortcomings, the book contributes to our understanding of the constitutionalizing of Indian nations. The endnotes that supplement each chapter provide valuable facts and explanation. Richotte’s historical perspective helps the reader assess why adopted constitutions often contradict traditional ways of governing and why, on any given day, at least one Indian nation is dealing with a constitutional crisis. finally, the book adds to the growing body of work specific to Turtle Mountain and should stimulate additional research.

Gerald “Carty” Monette, Ed.D., served as president of Turtle Mountain Community College from 1975 to 2005, and is currently the senior advisor for the Tribal Nations Research Group.