Native Americans have lived on the continental United States since around 10,000 BC. Each tribe held vast holdings of land. This ancestral land held all the resources that the Native American tribes needed to survive and live. Native Americans on the eastern side of the United States lost their land due to encroachment from white settlers and the eventual forced removal to reservations in Indian Country in the state of Oklahoma. The tribes that were removed and placed on reservations lost all their resources and potential sources of revenue when they lost their land base. Having been at best only partially compensated for their land loss, Native Americans are now among the poorest people in the country. In an effort to break this cycle of poverty, some tribes have begun a tourism business, some sell native arts and crafts, some own smoke shops, and some participate in Indian gaming. The Seminole Tribe of Florida began Indian gaming with it's bingo halls and casinos. With this new source of revenue and a new federal policy of Native American self-determination, Native Americans now control their own government, revenue, lands, and tribal members on their reservations. The Seminoles have a Tribal Council and a Board of Directors, while the Kickapoo government consists of the Kickapoo Tribal Council

. In conclusion, this blog will discuss the economic relationship between Native American tribes, specifically the Seminole and Kickapoo tribes, and the federal government; starting at the beginning of English-Seminole English-Kickapoo interactions and continuing to the present.