Shown here is a delegation from the Minnesota Chippewa tribe meeting with
federal officials in Washington.  As bureaucracy tended to slow
legislation, there was a fervent debate among Native Americans on whether
they should maintain their special status or be brought into the
mainstream of American society.  In 1946, Congress created the Indian
Claims Commission, which over the next twenty-five years would pay out
over $300 million to settle Indian disputes dating back to the nineteenth
century.  While hailed as a major victory for the Indians, the Commission
was the first step in the process which became known as "termination"-the
ending of federal supervision and protection for all tribes.