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Rh. In response to a pattern of conflict arising out of colonial intrusion on tribal land, that supervision grew increasingly exacting. Ibid.; see also R. Clinton, The Proclamation of 1763: Colonial Prelude to Two Centuries of Federal-State Conflict Over the Management of Indian Affairs, 69 B. U. L. Rev. 329, 331–337 (1989) (Clinton 1989). In 1743, for example, a British royal commission rejected an effort by the colony of Connecticut to exercise independent jurisdiction over a Tribe within its borders. Id., at 335–336. The decision rested on a now-familiar logic: “The Indians, though living amongst the king’s subjects in these countries, are a separate and distinct people from them, they are treated with as such, they have a polity of their own, they make peace and war with any nation of Indians when they think fit, without controul from the English.” Opinion of Comm’r Horsmanden, Aug. 1, 1743, in Governor and Company of Connecticut, and Mohegan Indians, By Their Guardians 126 (1743).

The mere suggestion of colonial management of tribal relations catalyzed further “centralization of oversight and control of colonial Indian regulation by the British government,” culminating in the Proclamation of 1763. Clinton 1989, at 336. That proclamation announced the Crown’s intent to manage all “land cessions, diplomatic and other relations, and trade with the Indian [T]ribes,” and to displace contrary colonial practice. Id., at 357. Britain never had a chance to iron out the kinks of that approach before the Revolutionary War broke out. But “[i]mmediately prior to 1776, the stage was set” for “complete imperial control over the management of Indian matters.” Id., at 362.

After the Revolution, the Articles of Confederation gave the newly formed “[U]nited [S]tates … the sole and exclusive right and power of … managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the [S]tates.” Art. IX (1777). In providing that grant of authority, the Articles’ drafters