John F. Lacey

John Fletcher Lacey (30 May 1841, New Martinsville, Virginia - 29 September 1913) was a United States congressman from the state of Iowa. He is significant in the history of the conservation movement for his role in writing (with the help of anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett) and enacting the Antiquities Act, pivotal for the preservation of major archaeological sites in the Southwestern United States. He was also the author of the Lacey Act of 1900, which made it a crime to ship illegal game across state lines and was a provision to the previous Dawes and Burkes Acts. As the first federal conservation law, it remains one of the foundations of conservation law enforcement. [Nation marks Lacey Act centennial, 100 years of federal wildlife law enforcement. US Fish and Wildlife Service press release. May 30, 2000. [http://www.fws.gov/pacific/news/2000/2000-98.htm] ]

Life

At the age of twenty, Lacey joined the Iowa infantry. During his time with the Third Iowa Infantry, he was captured at the Battle of Blue Mills. However, he was soon released on parole. He eventually worked his way up to the rank of assistant adjutant general on the staff of General Steele. He remained in this position until the end of the Civil War.

Afterwards, he decided to study law. He practiced law in Oskaloosa, Iowa shortly after in 1865. Five years later, he became a member of the Iowa House of Representatives. From the years of 1891 to 1907, he was a member of the fifty-first Congress as a Republican, and the fifty-third Congress through the fifty-ninth Congresses. In 1907, he was also elected the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. After falling short for re-election to the sixtieth Congress, he went back to practicing law. He practiced law until his death in Oskaloosa, Iowa on September 29, 1913.

The Lacey Act

Lacey is most prominently known for his association with the Lacey Act. In 1897, during his time with the fifty-ninth congress, John F. Lacey was introduced to The Lacey Act. This bill made provision for the allotment of tribal funds to certain classes of Indians. These provisions were proposed after the passing of The Burke Act and The Dawes Act, both of which provided for the allotment of reservation lands to individual Indians, but not to communally owned trust funds. After much debate and several opposing arguments, President William McKinley signed the bill into law in 1907. The act became popularly known as the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act is made of two sections, Sec. 1 and Sec. 2. Section 1 states the general guidelines for those Indians wishing to claim his/her share of the tribal funds to which he is entitled. This first section stipulates that:

“The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, from time to time, to designate any individual Indian belonging to any tribe or tribes whom he may deem to be capable of managing his or her affairs, and he may cause the apportioned and allotted to any such Indian his or her pro rata of any tribal or trust funds on deposit in the Treasury of the United States to the Credit of such Indian on the books of the Treasury” [Entry from Section 1 of the Lacey Act of 1907 requiring that such Indian receiving his/her share of tribal funds is capable of managing those funds. The Treasury will keep records of all allotment transactions between the said Indian and the Treasury of the United States.]

The above-mentioned stipulations will be met under the conditions that each individual Indian files an application for allotment of funds. It is also stated within Section 1 that:

“The Secretaries of the Interior and the Treasury are hereby directed to withhold from such apportionment and allotment a sufficient sum of the said Indian funds as may be necessary or required to pay any existing claims against said Indians” [Entry from Section 1 of the Lacey Act of 1907 stating that should the said Indian filing for allotment have any existing claims against them which require payment, the Secretaries of the Interior and Treasury are directed to withhold the amount of allotment to the sum which will cover payment for the existing claims.]

These claims must be pending for settlement at the time of such apportionment and allotment by judicial determination in the Court of Claims or the Executive Departments of the Government. Section 2 of the Lacey Act allows for the Secretary of the Interior to pay any Indian which is blind, crippled, decrepit, or helpless due to old age, disease, or accident their share of the tribal trust funds. Included in the conditions of Section 2, in the case that the previous requirements are met, is the organization for the allotment of funds placed into the Treasury, after the time of the initial allotment, which are intended for the credit of the individual’s tribe. This is explained in the following:

“. . . and of any other money which may hereafter be placed in the Treasury for the credit of such tribe and susceptible of division among its members, under such rules, regulations, and conditions as he may prescribe” [Entry from Section 2 of the Lacey Act of 1907 allowing for the allotment of tribal funds, under the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, to the said individual who has met the previously stated requirement, his share of the funds placed into the Treasury after the time of the initial allotment. ] The Lacey Act has been amended and updated several times since its signing in 1900.

References

* Prucha, Francis Paul. 'Documents of United States Indian Policy: Third Edition'. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln, Nebraska. 2000. Pg. 208
* [http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/lacey-john-fletcher.html John Fletcher LACEY — Infoplease.com ] at www.infoplease.com
* [http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus16publlr27.htm#4 The Lacey Act: America's Premier Weapon ] at www.animallaw.info
* [http://www.irs.gov/govt/tribes/article/0,,id=108394,00.html FAQs for Indian Tribal Governments regarding Miscellaneous Issues ] at www.irs.gov

External links

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