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Rh west from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona to California, and north into Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. The Navajos lived in a portion of that formerly Mexican territory.

In 1849, the United States entered into a treaty with the Navajos. See Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians, Sept. 9, 1849, 9 Stat. 974 (ratified Sept. 24, 1850). In that 1849 treaty, the Navajo Tribe recognized that the Navajos were now within the jurisdiction of the United States, and the Navajos agreed to cease hostilities and to maintain “perpetual peace” with the United States. Ibid. In return, the United States agreed to “designate, settle, and adjust” the “boundaries” of the Navajo territory. Id., at 975.

Over the next two decades, however, the United States and the Navajos often were at war with one another. During that period, the United States forcibly moved many Navajos from their original homeland to a relatively barren area in New Mexico known as the Bosque Redondo Reservation.

In 1868, the two sides agreed to a second treaty to put an end to “all war between the parties.” The United States “set apart” a large reservation “for the use and occupation of the Navajo tribe” within the new American territory in the western United States. Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians, June 1, 1868, 15 Stat. 667–668 (ratified Aug. 12, 1868). Importantly, the reservation would be on the Navajos’ original homeland, not the Bosque Redondo Reservation. The new reservation would enable the Navajos to once again become self-sufficient, a substantial improvement from the situation at Bosque Redondo. The United States also agreed (among other things) to build schools, a chapel, and other buildings; to provide teachers for at least 10 years; to supply seeds and agricultural implements for up to three years; and to provide funding for the purchase of sheep, goats, cattle, and