The First Amendment Protects Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion is explicitly protected by the very first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On its face, this would apply to the ghost dance movement as much as to any other. But that's not how the authorities viewed it at the time and they banned ghost dancing. This caused a cascade of problems. The famed Lakota leader, Sitting Bull, had returned to the Dakotas after he had stopped touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He lived on the Standing Rock Indian reservation which straddles the borders of North and South Dakota.