"First, take the government of the Indians out of politics; second, let the laws of the Indians be the same as those of the whites; third, give the Indian the ballot"

A three-part program for justice and inclusion emerges: remove partisan manipulation from the administration of Native affairs, apply the same legal protections and obligations to Native people as to other citizens, and ensure full political voice through the vote. The first demand confronts a long history of patronage and exploitation in Indian affairs. When appointments and policies are driven by party interests, communities become bargaining chips, resources are siphoned, and treaties are bent to fit election cycles. Professional, accountable governance, insulated from partisan spoils, would reduce corruption and make space for consistent policy grounded in rights rather than expediency.

Legal parity challenges the regime of exceptionalism that treated Native people as wards without the full shield of the law. Equal access to courts, property protections, due process, and remedies against abuse could have curbed predatory agents, fraudulent land deals, and arbitrary detention. Yet this principle carries a tension: “the same laws” can become an instrument of assimilation if used to erase treaty-guaranteed rights, collective landholding, and tribal legal traditions. Equality before law must not be confused with sameness that dissolves sovereignty.

The ballot is the linchpin. Without the vote, promises of fair administration and equal law remain fragile. Enfranchisement creates leverage: elected officials become accountable to Native constituencies; policy can be shaped from within rather than imposed from above; and alliances can be built to defend land, education, and economic opportunity. History shows how delayed and obstructed this step was, federal citizenship arrived in 1924, yet many states suppressed Native voting for decades, underscoring its centrality.

Taken together, the program seeks to replace wardship with citizenship and political agency. A just modernization would combine these aims with robust respect for nation-to-nation commitments: depoliticized, competent administration; equal protection and due process that honor treaties and self-governance; and unfettered voting rights in tribal, state, and federal spheres.