House Concurrent Resolution 108
Digital History ID 726

Date:1953

Annotation: With this resolution, the House of Representatives and the Senate announced their support for a new Indian policy: "termination." Under this policy, Indians' status as government wards would be ended as soon as possible and Native Americans would assume all the responsibilities of full citizenship.

Document: Whereas it is the policy of Congress, as rapidly as possible, to make the Indians within the territorial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to other citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to American citizenship....

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

That it is declared to be the sense of Congress that, at the earliest possible time, all of the Indian tribes...located within the States of California, Florida, New York, and Texas...should be freed from Federal supervision and control and from all disabilities and limitations specifically applicable to Indians....

Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, 67: B132.