An Assumption of Sovereignty: Social and Political Transformation Among the Florida Seminoles, 1953-1979In the early 1950s the very existence of the Florida Seminoles was in jeopardy. Mired in poverty, poorly educated, underemployed, and without a tribal government, they also faced the possibility that the U. S. Congress would terminate services to them. Fortunately, loss of reservation lands was averted and the situation began to improve. When the federal government approved a charter and constitution for the tribe in 1957, it marked both the official