Term: Freedom from Federal Supervision Act (1953)
Definition: reversing the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act , it ended the status of Indian nations as wards of the U.S. government in order to encourage self-determination; in practice, however, many tribes' federal support was unilaterally terminated, resulting in widespread poverty.
[Source: 67 Stat. B132; Loew, Patty. Indian Nations of Wisconsin (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2001).]
