Yesterday, a years-long legal battle came to an end. The Obama administration announced a $3.4 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit that pitted Native Americans against the U.S. government. The winners: the Native Americans. (Shocking, I know.)

The lawsuit stems back to the Dawes Act (1887), which broke up tribal land and provided for allotments of land to individual families instead. But the land was placed in trust, and Native Americans were promised that their share of the profits from oil, mineral, grazing and timber leases on the land would be put in an account.

The Dawes Act was really about assimilation. According to PBS, Congressman Henry Dawes’ idea of a civilized person was one who would “wear civilized clothes … cultivate the ground, live in houses, ride in Studebaker wagons, send children to school, drink whiskey [and] own property.” (Congratulations, all you Studebaker-driving Gentleman Jack drinkers!) Individual land ownership, contrary to the Native American tradition of communal property, was seen as a way to “civilize” the Native Americans. It was also hoped that they would become farmers.

The act amounted to land thievery. Those allotments were often undesirable land, and “surplus” tribal land went to white settlers. In the end, Native Americans were deprived of more than 90 million acres. And, as spelled out in the lawsuit, the Bureau of Indian Affairs mismanaged funds and cheated the trust account holders out of their revenues for the leases. The plaintiffs in the settlement estimate that they are owed $47 billion.

The case has dragged on for 13 years. Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Montana, expressed that she wanted a larger settlement than the $3.4 billion, but that time was an issue for the elderly plaintiffs and people living in poverty. The settlement works out to be $1,000 for anyone with a trust account and $2 billion for the government to buy back land parcels, which they will return to the tribes. Congress still has to approve the decision. It will be the biggest settlement in history for Native Americans from the federal government.

Tell me your thoughts on the case. Any lawyers out there with an opinion?

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