Whether they are called Indigenous Peoples, Native Americans, or American Indians, people whose ancestors lived in what is now the United States before the arrival of Europeans present a fundamental constitutional question: are they U.S. citizens, or are they members of a separate nation? Or are they, perhaps, both?

If they are, collectively, nations of some kind, what is the status of the various treaties they have negotiated with the U.S. Government over the past several hundred years?

Recently, David Wilkins, a professor at the University of Minnesota, taught a seminar at Montpelier on these very questions. But before he did, he sat down and spoke with Stewart about them.