Abstract
This paper investigates why the Alaska Natives wanted the corporation system of landownership when Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 was legislated. For this purpose, I refer to Barry Jackson who contributed to and influenced the draft of this act.
This study clarified the following:
The Alaska Natives adopted the corporation system, not the allotment or reservation (trust) system. The corporation system had been proposed since around 1910 for forest conservation in the Indian reservations in the lower 48 states. Jackson imported this idea into the draft. The Alaska Natives preferred communal landownership because they wanted to maintain their economic independence. Further, they also wished to be politically independ ent of the federal government.
However, in reality, the geographical area they communally occupied was the same as a reservation. The difference was that the corporations permitted self-determination. The Alaska Natives did not want to be under the control of the federal government.
