Lawsuit over Indian Lands Settled

This article in the New York Times reports that the Obama administration is ending a 13 year legal dispute between the US government and American Indian trust fund owners.
As a result of the Dawes act in 1887, Native American land was distributed to Indians plot by plot. Remaining lands had been sold for US government profit. The lands the Indians held were run and managed by the Interior Department. It was used for purposes such as agriculture, lumber, oil drilling and other things. The lawsuit that arose 13+ years ago was over the US government not appropriately reimbursing the land owners. “The lawsuit accuses the federal government of mismanaging that money. As a result, the value of the trusts has been unclear, and the Indians contend that they are owed far more than what they have been paid.”
The first historical link is to the Dawes act. We learned this was a way for government official to seize lands, but still leaving the Indians some lands to themselves. We see some consequences (finally) for the US abusing the native owners of the land.
The second historical link dates back to “The New Deal” era. The Indian Reorganization act of 1934 was the end of the federal attempt to “assimilate” native Americans into US society. Instead, it was established to promote the individual cultures rather than destroy them (which was the intention of the Dawes act). This also marks the start of what some call reconciliation for the mistreatment of the natives since before the US had been established. The NYT has a quote that shows this:
“President Obama hailed the agreement as an “important step towards a sincere reconciliation” between the federal government and American Indians, many of whom, he said, considered the protracted lawsuit a “stain” on the nation.”
From what is said in the article, it seems that the Obama administration was the first, and only, administration that worked to fix this problem. It is definitely a show that the US is still working on its penance established from the New Deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/us/09tribes.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=indian%20lawsuit&st=cse