The Menominee Termination Crisis

Congress, the interested members of the general public, as well as some specialists, have had a tendency to emphasize natural resources in their approaches to the problems brought on by termination of federal supervision over the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Under present law, December 31, 1960 is the latest date at which federal withdrawal can occur. There has been concern over the future of the magnificent trees on the Reservation—which unfortunately has not always been matched by concern for the people who live under or around them. In the same vein, there has also been an understandable emphasis on economic and political organizational problems, such as: The types of business structure which would provide a viable economy for the Menominees and thus an adequate tax base for the post-termination Reservation community; or the form of Wisconsin local government for the area which would best fit into the overall state structure. It is our intention in this paper to outline a series of realities of a social, cultural, and psychological nature which we believe must be dealt with in assessing plans for meeting the problems of termination. Otherwise, we believe that the blueprints drawn up by the tribe's leaders and their attorneys may end up as nothing more than interesting or even dangerous exercises ultimately acceptable neither to the Menominees nor to the American conscience. The Menominees themselves lay the most stress on human factors in discussing obstacles to a successful outcome of termination

Blueprint · Conscience · Government (linguistics) · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Reservation · Sociology · State (computer science) · Tribe · American Constitutional Law and Politics · American Environmental and Regional History · Law

• A Picture Technique for the Study of Values1

  Open Access•Walter Goldschmidt, Robert B Edgerton•American Anthropologist•1961

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