Frederick Hoxie is the Swanlund Professor of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He was formerly Director of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian, The Newberry Library. Among numerous other books he has authored he was editor of The Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Mr. Hoxie's keynote address is titled "Lewis and Clark in Indian Country: Opportunities Found and Lost." In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered a foreign country, Mr. Hoxie says. While it had no ambassadors in European courts or mapmakers to define its borders, it was well-known to travelers and diplomats. It was The Indian Country. The bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition takes place as the American democracy struggles to understand both its own history and its relationship to other peoples and cultures in the world. There are many "countries" in the world that may not coincide with political entities or lines on a map. How might Americans respond to the opportunity of discovering this fact?

David Wilkins is a Lumbee Indian and Associate Professor of American Indian Studies, Political Science and Law at the University of Minnesota. He has authored many books including co-authoring, Tribes, Treaties and Tribulations with Vine Deloria, Jr. His keynote address is titled "A Constitutional Actuality: The Durable though Manipulable Status of Indigenous Nations." Professor Wilkins will discuss the distinctive political and legal status of aboriginal peoples during the Lewis and Clark expedition and how indigenous status has or has not evolved to the present day.