Define the overall system or form of the government.

Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe (1995)

Section 1. Three Branches of Government. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal government shall be divided into three (3) separate and independent branches of government consisting of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Departments. No person or group of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as this Constitution may otherwise expressly direct or permit.

Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (2000)

The governing bodies of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe shall be the Tribal Executive Committee and the Reservation Business Committees of the White Earth, Leech Lake, Fond du Lac, Bois Forte (Nett Lake), and Grand Pottage Reservations, and the Nonremoval Mille Lac Band of Chippewa Indians, hereinafter referred to as the six (6) Reservations.

Gila River Indian Community(1960)

SECTION 1. No person shall be elected or hold office as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Chief Judge, Associate Judges, or Councilmen unless he (1) is a member of the Community; (2) has reached the age of twenty-five (25) years; (3) has been living in the particular district he is to represent for at least sixty (60) days immediately preceding the election; (4) has been living on the Reservation for at least one year immediately preceding the election. Additional qualifications may be prescribed by ordinance.

SEC. 2. No person who, within the year preceding the election, has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall be eligible to hold office in the Community.

Blackfeet Tribe (1998)

Section 1. The governing body of the Blackfeet Tribe shall consist of a council known as the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council.

Section 2. The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council shall consist of nine (9) members duly elected from the four (4) districts of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation which are designated as follows: Browning District, Heart Butte District, Seville District, and Old Agency District. The election of all Tribal Council members shall be submitted to the entire electorate of the Reservation, provided that no one shall be elected as a councilman who has not resided within the exterior boundaries of the Blackfeet Reservation for a period of 1year….

Section 3. In lieu of the districts herein described the tribal council shall have the power to establish communities….

Section 4. (a) The tribal council so organized shall elect from its membership: (1) A chairman; (2) A vice chairman. (b) The tribal council shall elect from within or outside of its own membership: (1) A secretary; (2) A sergeant-at-arms; (3) Such other officers and committees as may be deemed necessary.

• Match structure and powers to contemporary cultural standards

• Qualifications for holding office

• Consistency with traditional form of government

• Parliamentary system of government
• Presidential system of government
• Consensus decision making

• Role of elders, youth, clans

• Elders’ council? Youth Council?