ACET Affirmations

1. We Affirm that an American Indian Tribe is a continuing community of interrelated descendants of a historic American Indian Tribe or tribes which has maintained tribal identity in some manner that can be documented from at least the 19th century or earlier.

2. We Affirm the inherent sovereignty of each member nation of the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes as a gift of our Creator, passed through our ancestors, which was never surrendered to - and cannot be limited or extinguished by - any foreign power.

3. We Affirm the inherent sovereignty and dignity of all American Indian Tribes and call on all other American Indian nations, the government of the United States, and state governments to do the same. We further assert that the specific focus and makeup of the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes is not a denial or an attempt to undermine the fact that many historic American Indian Tribes do not share the specific elements of the common histories and specific purpose of this league of tribal nations.

4. We Affirm the inherent right of self-definition and self-governance of all American Indian Tribes and assert that such tribes should be free from foreign interference in any internal tribal matter.

5. We Affirm the right of all American Indian Tribes to negotiate relations with any other tribe or nation, to seek mutual acknowledgment with the federal government of the United States or of any individual state, and to establish a government-to-government relationship with the same.

6. We Affirm that member tribes of this alliance shall seek to support and defend the rights and status of other member tribes and shall never seek each other’s harm or detriment.

7. We Affirm the essential equality of all American Indian tribes and deny that any form of recognition from the federal government of the United States or the government of any individual state creates tribal authenticity, defines tribal identity, or establishes tribal sovereignty.