Excerpt from the History of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

By 1957, after numerous community meetings, a constitution was forged establishing a two-tiered government (Tribal Council and Board of Directors) with elected representation from each reservation community.

That same year, the U.S. Congress officially recognized the unconquered Seminole Tribe Florida; the Tribe immediately began wading into the mainstream of the federal Indian system.

The first Seminole government achieved what many felt was impossible, bringing the chaos of new organization under control and the first monies into the tiny Tribal treasury. Thus began the modern era of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The wise framers of the Seminole Constitution foresaw an economic prosperity far beyond the small-time tourism ventures - alligator wrestling shows, airboat rides, roadside arts and crafts booths, village tours - that had become the staple of individual and Tribal economy.

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