Chapter 11: The Cherokee Unite (45.11)

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The Cherokee Unite

Many consider the reorganization of the Cherokee government to be the most important step the Nation took toward modernization. A bicameral legislature and judicial system were established using as a model the government and constitution of the United States. The principal chief continued as the chief executive of the Cherokee Nation.

Source: Cherokee National Capitol Building, 101-29 South Muskogee Avenue, Tahlequah, Cherokee County, OK

No More Treaties

In 1825 the Legislative Council of the Cherokees issued a decree that the chiefs of the Nation could not make treaties that disposed of any Cherokee land. Additionally, all valuable minerals discovered on Cherokee land will be public property for the benefit of the Cherokee Nation. A Cherokee bank holding surplus monies of the Nation could loan Cherokee citizens up to $500 at 6 percent interest if they could show sufficient securities and give their bond.

Perhaps most monumental was the establishment by the Legislative Council of a new permanent capital for the Nation – New Echota, at the confluence of the Coosawattee and Conasauga rivers. New Echota is seen at that location in Area 36, the last remainder of a once 40,000 square mile Indian Nation, on the Royce map in the image below.

Area 36

Source: MoTrailofTears.com Geographic Information System (GIS)

Source: MoTrailofTears.com Geographic Information System (GIS)

Source: MoTrailofTears.com Geographic Information System (GIS) Missing Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10A, 10B, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, & 36.

New Echota

The Legislative Council authorized a Supreme Court building, a print shop for the Cherokee Phoenix, and a Council House at New Echota. The Council House was a two-story log building with glass windows, plank floors, brick fireplaces, and a staircase leading to offices on the second floor. There were also buildings for a tavern, retail stores, and permanent homes.

Although impressive and functional, and demonstrative of the advancement and acculturalization of the Cherokees, perhaps the most dramatic advancement was the adoption of a new constitution. The document mirrors to a large degree the constitution of the United States with three distinct departments – Legislative, Judicial, and Executive. The preamble of the new Cherokee constitution acknowledges the “Sovereign Ruler of the Universe” for his goodness in the design of the constitution.

New Principal Chief John Ross

Following the constitution, the Cherokee Nation elected a new principal chief, John Ross, on Oct. 17, 1828. That was just one month before Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States.

Source: https://www.nativehistoryassociation.org/totnht_background.php

The Question of Indian Removal

The elephant in the room since 1819 had been the Compact of 1802. That agreement was between the State of Georgia and the Government of the United States which required the U.S. to remove all the Indians from the state. No timetable was stated; it was to be by the willingness of the resident Native Americans. The success of the Cherokee advancement over the previous decade brought the issue to a head.

Residents and government leaders in Georgia could see the recent successes of the Cherokee Nation becoming more of a threat to permanent settlement on Georgia land. And they wanted that land for speculation and occupation, including the improvements made by the Cherokees over their occupation of their homeland.

By the 1820’s settlement pressures in the Arkansas Territory had led to continual conflict as white settlers invaded Cherokee lands there. Missouri had become a state in 1821. The Osage had been removed in 1808. The Quapaw’s first removal treaty was in 1824. By that time about 6000 Cherokees were living in the Cherokee reserve in Arkansas.

Removal West of the Mississippi River

Jefferson had encouraged the Cherokees to remove across the Mississippi River to forever be free of all the issues their eastern cousins were suffering in the homeland. That western realm was promised to be just like their homeland, with lots of game for hunting and rich cove valleys for their corn fields. And no competition from white settlement. In fact, all white settlers were removed from that quadrangle between the Eastern and Western Cherokee Boundary lines after 1819.

But that did not stop them from coming in again. Arkansas had become a territory in1819 with a western limit of the 100 degrees west longitude, according to the mutual understanding between the United States and Spain. In 1824 Arkansas Territory was reduced in size when the western extent of the territory was moved to a line running north and south forty miles west of the southwest corner of Missouri, as shown of the image below.

So where do the Cherokees go from central Arkansas for relief? How did the Cherokee end up in the mountainous central Arkansas, living primarily along the watercourses? It was the hunting potential that got them there. Even before 1800, Cherokees hunters had found the Arkansas River valley as one of the most promising hunting regions.

Next: Chapter 12: Keep Moving Westward? (45.12)

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