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We often think of Native people and state officials as being on opposite sides of policy decisions, separated by a large gulf. We assume a certain power dynamic: non-Native officials handed down decisions which repeatedly upended the lives of Natives, and Native people scrambled to make sense of the consequences. The Native Congressional Record (NCR) challenges these assumptions. Rather than understanding Native people as perpetually acted upon, the NCR presumes Native people have shaped policy and American constitutional democracy, by speaking the language of the state. The NCR is envisioned as an accessible platform where students, scholars, and general audiences—including, crucially, citizens of tribal nations—can engage with the ways Native people have spoken to Congress through testimony, petitions, and submitted statements throughout the twentieth century.