The most defining characteristic of a nation is not sovereignty. By definition, a nation does not need to be sovereign. Countries need sovereignty to qualify as countries. Nations do not. By that, it can also be said that all countries are nations, but not all nations are countries. Native American reservations are generally referred to as the most appropriate examples of nations that aren’t countries. Note that all of this is in International Relations terms and that, by these terms, the most substantial indicator of sovereignty is stable, separable borders. The reason I explained the difference between these two things is that it gives very good context as to what happened to numerous native american communities throughout the American post-colonial period, including the 20th century. A good example in the 20th century was the case of the Blackfeet and Glacier National Park, as was seen in the slideshow presented in class on the 9th of October. While there was a cession treaty signed by the Blackfeet and the national government in 1895, the Blackfeet maintained certain land rights on the ceded land. In 1910, when Glacier National Park was established, these land rights were forcibly relinquished. This is a clear breach of sovereignty on two occasions. First, the coerced cession treaty created a breach in sovereignty in terms of a change in border and then the second when rights were removed without giving the Blackfeet a say. It should also be noted that this entire interaction between the Blackfeet and the United States Federal government was not a stand-alone affair. It was the norm. These interactions are perfectly indicative of the imperialist force that the United State was growing into in the 19th and 20th centuries.