270
Opinion of the Court
the northern portion of the reservation, including approximately two-thirds of Lake Coeur d'Alene, in exchange for $500,000. App. 198; see also 95 F. Supp. 2d, at 1113. The new boundary line, like the old one, ran across the lake, and General Simpson, a negotiator for the United States, reassured the Tribe that "you still have the St. Joseph River and the lower part of the lake." App. 183. And, again, the agreement was not to be binding on either party until both it and the 1887 agreement were ratified by Congress. Id., at 199.
On June 7, 1890, the Senate passed a bill ratifying both the 1887 and 1889 agreements. S. 2828, 51st Cong., 1st Sess. (1890); 21 Cong. Rec. 5769-5770 (1890). On June 10, the Senate bill was referred to the House, where a parallel bill had already been reported by the House Committee on Indian Affairs. H. R. Rep. No. 1109, 51st Cong., 1st Sess. (1890); see 21 Cong. Rec. 2775 (1890).
On July 3, 1890, while the Senate bill was under consideration by the House Committee on Indian Affairs, Congress passed the Idaho Statehood Act, admitting Idaho into the Union "on an equal footing with the original States," Act of July 3, 1890, ch. 656, 26 Stat. 215. The Statehood Act "accepted, ratified, and confirmed" the Idaho Constitution, ibid., which "forever disclaim[ed] all right and title to . . . all lands lying within [Idaho] owned or held by any Indians or Indian tribes" and provided that "until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the congress of the United States," Idaho Const., Art. XXI, § 19 (1890).
A little over a month later, on August 19, 1890, the House Committee on Indian Affairs reported that the Senate bill ratifying the 1887 and 1889 agreements was identical to the House bill that it had already recommended. H. R. Rep. No. 2988, 51st Cong., 1st Sess. (1890). On March 3, 1891, Congress "accepted, ratified, and confirmed" both the 1887
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