mar 3, 1871 - Signs Indian Appropriations Act (16 Stat 544), stating that "hereafter no Indian nation or tribe. . . shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty (16 Stat 566)." The act also prohibits any "contract or agreement of any kind" with "any tribe of Indians" unless approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior, and in writing