Citizen Potawatomi Nation Constitution

Year

Citizen Potawatomi Nation is located in Oklahoma with a population of 29,000 people. The constitution was enacted in 1938 and amended in 1985 and 2007.

Preamble: We, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, sometimes designated as the Potawatomi Tribe of Oklahoma, in furtherance of our inherent powers of self-government in order to take advantage of the opportunities for economic independence and social advancement offered by the Thomas- Rogers Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of June 26, 1936, (49 Stat. 1976), do hereby adopt this Constitution pursuant to the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of June 26, 1936 (49 Stat. 1967) which shall supersede the constitution approved by the Secretary of the Interior on October 17, 1938, and ratified on December 12, 1938, and amended on September 27, 1956, December 27, I960, April 24, 1961, September 21, 1970, April 20, 1983, and April 8, 1996, with ratification.  

Native Nations
Topics
Citation

Citizen Potawatomi Nation. 2007. "Constitution of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation." Shawnee, OK.

Related Resources

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A 3-minute clip of an interview with Chairman Barrett describing how Citizen Potawatomi Nation created a government structure and constitution that worked for the nation's large and very dispersed population.

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In this wide-ranging interview with NNI's Ian Record, longtime chairman John "Rocky" Barrett of the Citizen Potwatomi Nation provides a rich history of CPN's long, difficult governance odyssey, and the tremendous strides that the nation has made socially, economically, politically, and culturally…

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Professor Joseph P. Kalt describes the dramatic rebirth of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, citing its development of capable governance as the key to its economic development success.