Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 116 Part 4.djvu/417

 PUBLIC LAW 107-331—DEC. 13, 2002 116 STAT. 2845 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— Nothing in this section designates, or shall be used to construe, any land described in subsection (b) (or any interest in that land) as an Indian reservation, Indian country, Indian land, or reservation land (as those terms are defined under any Federal law (including a regulation)) for any purpose under any Federal law. TITLE VI—CHEROKEE, CHOCTAW, AND Cherokee CHICKASAW NATIONS CLAIMS SET- chrSw"' TLEMENT ACT SmeSTt SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE. This title may be cited as the "Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations Claims Settlement Act". SEC. 602. FDiJDINGS. The Congress finds the following: (1) It is the policy of the United States to promote tribal self-determination and economic self-sufficiency and to encourage the resolution of disputes over historical claims through mutually agreed-to settlements between Indian Nations and the United States. (2) There are pending before the United States Court of Federal Claims certain lawsuits against the United States brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations seeking monetary damages for the alleged use and mismanagement of tribal resources along the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma. (3) The Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters south of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent constitution on June 26, 1976, and having entered into various treaties with the United States, including but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, executed on November 28, 1785 (7 Stat. 18), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on July 19, 1866 (14 Stat. 799), has maintained a continuous government-to-government relationship with the United States since the earliest years of the Union. (4) The Choctaw Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters in Durant, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent constitution on July 9, 1983, and having entered into various treaties with the United States of America, including but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, executed on January 3, 1786 (7 Stat. 21), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April 28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a continuous government-to-government relationship with the United States since the earliest years of the Union. (5) The Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent constitution on August 27, 1983, and having entered into various treaties with the United States of America, including but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, executed on January 10, 1786 (7 Stat. 24), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April 28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), 25 USC 1779 note. 25 USC 1779. 99-194O-03 -14:QL3Part4

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