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NCAI
Constitution 

PREAMBLE

We, the members of the Indian tribes of the United States of America invoking the Divine guidance of Almighty God in order to secure to ourselves-- the Indians of the United States and the Natives of Alaska-- and our descendants the rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws of the United States, and the several states thereof; to enlighten the public toward the better understanding of the Indian people; to preserve rights under Indian treaties or agreements with the Unites States; to promote the common welfare of the American Indian and to foster the continued loyalty and allegiance of American Indians to the flag of the Unites States do establish this organization and adopt the following Constitution and By-laws 

ARTICLE I

The name of this organization shall be the National Congress of American Indians with the headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

ARTICLE II
Membership 

Section 1. Membership shall be of five classes: 

a. Individual Membership. Any person of Indian ancestry in the United States or a native of Alaska is eligible for individual membership. For the purpose of this section, an Indian is a person who is recognized as a member by an Indian tribe, or band, or combination of tribes and bands recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Indian Claims Commission, Court of Claims, or a State. 

b. Tribal Membership. Any tribe, band or identifiable group of American Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts shall be eligible for tribal membership provided it shall fulfill all of the following requirements: 
(1) A substantial number of its members reside upon the same reservation, or (in the absence of a reservation) in the same general locality; (2)It maintains a tribal organization, with regular officers and the means of transcribing business and arriving at the reasonably accurate count of its membership; (3) It is not mere offshoot or fraction of an organized