REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1923 71 
severally fixed and acknowledged. (Kappler, Laws and Treaties, 
vol. 1, p. 34.) Article 3 of this treaty reads: 
Now, the United States acknowledges all the land within the 
above mentioned boundaries to be the property of the Seneca Nation 
and the United States will never claim the same nor disturb the 
Seneca Nation nor any of the Six Nations or their Indian friends 
residing thereon and united with them in the free use and enjoyment 
thereof, but it shall remain theirs until they choose to sell the same 
to the people of the United States who have the right to purchase. 
The Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794 is considered a basic docu- 
ment in establishing the status of the New York Indian tribes, the 
Six Nations, and it has never been abrogated by Congress. 
The Federal Government has always claimed control and 
guardianship over Indian tribes. By federal decisions it appears 
clearly that the Indian tribes, while maintaining their tribal organi- 
zations and residing on their reserved domain, by and with the con- 
sent of the Government, are regarded as wards of the Nation even 
when these reservations exist within the borders of a State. (Chero- 
kee Nation v. The State of Georgia 5, Peters 1). In the language 
of the decision of the Court it was said: “ . they may be de- 
nominated domestic dependent nations. They occupy a territory to 
which we assert a title independent of their will, which must take 
effect in point of possession when their right of possession ceases. 
Meanwhile they are in a state of pupilage. Their relation to the 
United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. They look 
to our Government for protection; rely upon its kindness and power ; 
appeal to it for relief from their wants; and address the President 
as their great father.” 
The State of New York does not and can not tax the Indians 
resident therein, for in the case of the Kansas Indians (5 Wall. 
755) and the New York Indians (5 Wall. 761) the court said: 
. but until they are clothed with the rights and bound to all 
the ales of citizens they enjoy the privilege of total immunity from 
state taxation.” 
In the case of United States v. Kagama, United States 375, Jus- 
tice Miller in concluding his decision says: 
The power of the General Government over these remnants of a 
race once powerful, now weak and diminished in numbers, is neces- 
sary to their protection as well as to the safety of those among 
whom they dwell. It must exist in that Government, because it has 
never existed anywhere else, because the theater of its existence 
is within the geographical limits of the United States, and because 
it has never been denied, and because it alone can enforce its laws on 
all the tribes. 
