The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) pledged that the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills, would be "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians.

[4] The 1868 treaty brought peace for a few years, but in 1874 an exploratory expedition under General George A. Custer entered the Black Hills to investigate rumors of gold.

They used as a pretext to declare the Sioux Indians "hostile" their failure to obey an order to return from an off-reservation hunting expedition in the dead of winter when travel was impossible.

[8] The consequent military expedition to remove the Sioux from the Black Hills included an attack on their village on the Little Bighorn River led by Custer.

"[7] In August 1876, Congress enacted a bill cutting off appropriations "made for the subsistence" of the Sioux unless they ceded the Black Hills to the United States.

When asked why, Congressman Omar D. Conger opined that Congress felt the need to "find out whether the Sioux have captured all our army before we go treating with them.

Then ensued what the US Supreme Court called "a lengthy period of procedural sparring" from 1958 until 1972 – when the Commission ruled in favor of the Sioux, awarding damages for the deprivation of the land, but not interest.

[23] On appeal the Government did not contest the Commission's holding that it had "acquired the Black Hills through a course of unfair and dishonorable dealing for which the Sioux were entitled to damages.

[25] The case returned to the Indian Claims Commission to determine minor leftover issues about the value of rights-of-way and government offsets.

[41] Under the leadership of Gerald Clifford, the designated coordinator of legislative efforts, Sioux representatives spent two years negotiating the exact terms of their demands.

[42] The Steering Committee succeeded in bringing this legislation to Congress when Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey signed on as a sponsor and introduced it on July 17, 1985.

[43] The new Sioux Nation Black Hills Act, or "Bradley Bill" as it was more commonly known, was staunchly opposed by the South Dakota delegation.

Bradley tried to reintroduce the legislation in 1987; however, internal political divisions amongst the representatives on the Black Hills Steering Committee diffused the momentum behind it.

Steering Committee member Red Cloud proposed that the new legislative effort be led by Phil Stevens, a businessman from California who claimed Sioux ancestry, instead of Clifford.

[41] Ultimately, Stevens proved unable to secure any congressional support behind his alternative proposal, and the momentum behind the initial push behind the Bradley Bill was lost.