Cherokee

This article is about the Indigenous American people. For tribal administration, seeCherokee Nation.For other uses, seeCherokee (disambiguation).

• Cherokee
• ᏣᎳᎩ
• ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ

Sequoyah,creator of theCherokee syllabaryas painted byHenry Inman,c.1830
Total population
316,049 enrolledtribal members (Eastern Band: >13,000, Cherokee Nation: 288,749, United Keetoowah Band: 14,300) 819,105 claimedCherokee ancestry in the 2010 Census
Regions with significant populations
United States California:large ethnic diaspora community, 22,124 registered tribal members North Carolina:16,158 (0.2%) Oklahoma:102,580 (2.7%) – extends to nearby Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri South Carolina:3,428 Canada:11,620 Residents of Canada identified as having Cherokee Ancestry in the2016 Canadian Census.
Languages
English,Cherokee
Religion
Christianity,Cherokee spiritual beliefs,Animism,Kituhwa,Four Mothers Society,

TheCherokee(/ˈtʃɛrəkiː,ˌtʃɛrəˈkiː/;Cherokee:ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ,romanized:Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi,or Cherokee:ᏣᎳᎩ,romanized:Tsalagi) people are one of theIndigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlandsof the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwesternNorth Carolina,southeasternTennessee,southwestern Virginia, edges of westernSouth Carolina,northernGeorgiaand northeasternAlabamaconsisting of around 40,000 square miles.

TheCherokee languageis part of theIroquoian languagegroup. In the 19th century,James Mooney,an early Americanethnographer,recorded one oral tradition that told of thetribehaving migrated south in ancient times from theGreat Lakesregion, where otherIroquoianpeoples have been based.However, anthropologist Thomas R. Whyte, writing in 2007, dated the split among the peoples as occurring earlier. He believes that the origin of theproto-Iroquoian languagewas likely theAppalachian region,and the split between Northern and Southern Iroquoian languages began 4,000 years ago.

By the 19th century, White Americansettlershad classified the Cherokee of the Southeast as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes"in the region. They wereagrarian,lived in permanent villages and had begun to adopt some cultural and technological practices of thewhitesettlers. They also developed their own writing system.

Today, three Cherokee tribes arefederally recognized:theUnited Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians(UKB) in Oklahoma, theCherokee Nation(CN) in Oklahoma, and theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians(EBCI) in North Carolina.

The Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 tribal members, making it the largest of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States.In addition, numerousgroups claim Cherokee lineage,and some of these are state-recognized. A total of more than 819,000 people are estimated to have identified as having Cherokee ancestry on the U.S. census; most are not enrolled members of any tribe.

Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the UKB have headquarters inTahlequah, Oklahoma,and most of their members live in the state. The UKB are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers", also called Western Cherokee: those who migrated from the Southeast toArkansasand Oklahoma in about 1817, prior toIndian removal.They are related to the Cherokee who were laterforcibly relocatedthere in the 1830s under theIndian Removal Act.The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located on land known as theQualla Boundaryin western North Carolina. They are mostly descendants of ancestors who had resisted or avoided relocation, remaining in the area. Because they gave up tribal membership at the time, they became state and US citizens. In the late 19th century, they reorganized as a federally recognized tribe.

Etymology

A Cherokee language name for Cherokee people isAniyvwiya(ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ,translating as "Principal People" ).Another endonym isAnigiduwagi(ᎠᏂᎩᏚᏩᎩ, translating as "People from Kituwah" ).Tsalagi Gawonihisdi(ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ) is the Cherokee name for theCherokee language.

Many theories, though all unproven, abound about theorigin of the name"Cherokee." It may have originally been derived from one of the competitive tribes in the area.

The earliest Spanish transliteration of the name, from 1755, is recorded asTchalaque,but it dates to accounts related to theHernando de Sotoexpedition in the mid-16th century.Another theory is that "Cherokee" derives from theLower CreekwordCvlakke( "chuh-log-gee" ), as the Creek were also in this mountainous region.

TheIroquoisFive Nations, historically based in New York and Pennsylvania, called the CherokeeOyata'ge'ronoñ( "inhabitants of the cave country" ).It is possible the word "Cherokee" comes from aMuscogeeCreek word meaning "people of different speech", because the two peoples spoke different languages.Jack Kilpatrick disputes this idea, noting that he believes the name come from the Cherokee word "tsàdlagí" meaning "he has turned aside".

Origins

Great Smoky Mountains

Anthropologists and historians have two main theories of Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to SouthernAppalachia,who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas around the Great Lakes. This has been the traditional territory of theHaudenosauneenations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Another theory is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years and that proto-Iroquoian developed here. Other Iroquoian-speaking tribes in the Southeast have been theTuscarora peopleof the Carolinas, and theMeherrinandNottawayof Virginia.

James Mooney in the late 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people migrating south from theGreat Lakesregion in ancient times.They occupied territories where earthworkplatform moundswere built by peoples during the earlier Woodland andMississippian cultureperiods.

For example, the people of the Connestee culture period are believed to be ancestors of the historic Cherokee and occupied what is nowWestern North Carolinain the Middle Woodland period, circa 200 to 600 CE. They are believed to have built what is called the Biltmore Mound, found in 1984 south of theSwannanoa Riveron the Biltmore Estate, which has numerous Native American sites.

Other ancestors of the Cherokee are considered to be part of the laterPisgah phaseofSouth Appalachian Mississippian culture,a regional variation of the Mississippian culture that arose circa 1000 and lasted to 1500 CE.There is a consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology about these dates. But Finger says that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time.Additional mounds were built by peoples during this cultural phase. Typically in this region, towns had a singleplatform moundand served as a political center for smaller villages.

The homelands

The Cherokee occupied numerous towns throughout the river valleys and mountain ridges of their homelands. What were called the Lower towns were found in what is present-day westernOconee County, South Carolina,along theKeowee River(called the Savannah River in its lower portion). The principal town of the Lower Towns wasKeowee.Other Cherokee towns on the Keowee River included Estatoe and Sugartown (Kulsetsiyi), a name repeated in other areas.

In western North Carolina, what were known as the Valley, Middle, and Outer Towns were located along the major rivers of theTuckasegee,the upperLittle Tennessee,Hiwasee,French Broadand other systems. TheOverhill Cherokeeoccupied towns along the lower Little Tennessee River and upper Tennessee River on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, in present-day southeastern Tennessee.

Agriculture

During the lateArchaicandWoodland Period,Native Americans in the region began to cultivate plants such asmarsh elder,lambsquarters,pigweed,sunflowers,and some nativesquash.People created new art forms such asshell gorgets,adopted new technologies, and developed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies.

During the Mississippian culture-period (1000 to 1500 CE in the regional variation known as theSouth Appalachian Mississippian culture), local women developed a new variety of maize (corn) called easternflint corn.It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complexchiefdomsconsisting of several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies, especially theGreen Corn Ceremony.

Early culture

Much of what is known about pre-18th century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions. The earliest ones of the mid-16th century encountered peoples of theMississippian cultureera, who were ancestral to tribes that emerged in the Southeast, such as the Cherokee,Muscogee,Cheraw,andCatawba.Specifically in 1540–41, a Spanish expedition led byHernando de Sotopassed through present-day South Carolina, proceeding into western North Carolina and what is considered Cherokee country. The Spanish recorded aChalaquepeople as living around theKeowee River,where western North Carolina, South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia meet. The Cherokee consider this area to be part of their homelands, which also extended into southeastern Tennessee.

Further west, De Soto's expedition visited villages in present-day northwestern Georgia, recording them as ruled at the time by theCoosa chiefdom.This is believed to be a chiefdom ancestral to theMuscogee Creek people,who developed as a Muskogean-speaking people with a distinct culture.

In 1566, theJuan Pardoexpedition traveled from the present-day South Carolina coast into its interior, and into western North Carolina and southeastern Tennessee. He recorded meeting Cherokee-speaking people who visited him while he stayed at theJoarachiefdom (north of present-dayMorganton, North Carolina). The historic Catawba later lived in this area of the upper Catawba River. Pardo and his forces wintered over at Joara, building Fort San Juan there in 1567.

His expedition proceeded into the interior, noting villages near modernAshevilleand other places that are part of the Cherokee homelands. According to anthropologistCharles M. Hudson,the Pardo expedition also recorded encounters withMuskogean-speaking peoples atChiahain southeastern modern Tennessee.

Linguistic studies

Linguistic studies have been another way for researchers to study the development of people and their cultures. Unlike most other Native American tribes in the American Southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee andTuscarora peoplespokeIroquoian languages.Since theGreat Lakesregion was the territory of most Iroquoian-language speakers, scholars have theorized that both the Cherokee and Tuscarora migrated south from that region. The Cherokeeoral history traditionsupports their migration from the Great Lakes.

Linguistic analysis shows a relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages, suggesting they had migrated long ago. Scholars posit a split between the groups in the distant past, perhaps 3,500–3,800 years ago.Glottochronologystudies suggest the split occurred between about 1500 and 1800 BCE.The Cherokee say that the ancient settlement ofKituwaon theTuckasegee Riveris their original settlement in the Southeast.It was formerly adjacent to and is now part ofQualla Boundary(the base of the federally recognizedEastern Band of Cherokee Indians) in North Carolina.

According to Thomas Whyte, who posits that proto-Iroquoian developed in Appalachia, the Cherokee andTuscarorabroke off in the Southeast from the major group of Iroquoian speakers who migrated north to the Great Lakes area. There a succession of Iroquoian-speaking tribes were encountered by Europeans in historic times.

Other sources of early Cherokee history

In the 1830s, the American writerJohn Howard Paynevisited Cherokee then based in Georgia. He recounted what they shared about pre-19th-century Cherokee culture and society. For instance, the Payne papers describe the account by Cherokee elders of a traditional two-part societal structure. A "white" organization of elders represented the sevenclans.As Payne recounted, this group, which washereditaryand priestly, was responsible for religious activities, such as healing, purification, and prayer. A second group of younger men, the "red" organization, was responsible for warfare. The Cherokee considered warfare a polluting activity.

Researchers have debated the reasons for the change. Some historians believe the decline in priestly power originated with a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class known as theAni-kutani.EthnographerJames Mooney,who studied and talked with the Cherokee in the late 1880s, was the first to trace the decline of the former hierarchy to this revolt.By the time that Mooney was studying the people in the late 1880s, the structure of Cherokee religious practitioners was more informal, based more on individual knowledge and ability than upon heredity.

Another major source of early cultural history comes from materials written in the 19th century by thedidanvwisgi(ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ), Cherokeemedicine men,afterSequoyah's creation of theCherokee syllabaryin the 1820s. Initially only thedidanvwisgilearned to write and read such materials, which were considered extremely powerful in a spiritual sense.Later, the syllabary and writings were widely adopted by the Cherokee people.

History

Main article:Cherokee history

17th century: English contact

In 1657, there was a disturbance inVirginia Colonyas theRechahecriansorRickahockans,as well as the SiouanManahoacandNahyssan,broke through the frontier and settled near the Falls of the James River, near present-dayRichmond, Virginia.The following year, a combined force of English colonists andPamunkeydrove the newcomers away. The identity of theRechahecrianshas been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for theEriechrononorErielhonan,commonly known as theErie tribe,another Iroquoian-speaking people based south of the Great Lakes in present-day northern Pennsylvania.This Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore ofLake Eriein 1654 by the powerfulIroquoisFive Nations, also known asHaudenosaunee,who were seeking more hunting grounds to support their dominance in the beaver fur trade. TheanthropologistMartin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after the wars (1986:131–32), later becoming known as theWestoto English colonists in the Province of Carolina. A few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee.

Virginian traders developed a small-scale trading system with the Cherokee in the Piedmont before the end of the 17th century. The earliest recorded Virginia trader to live among the Cherokee was Cornelius Dougherty or Dority, in 1690.

18th century

An annotated copy of a hand-paintedCatawbadeerskinmap of thetribesbetweenCharleston(left) andVirginia(right) following the displacements of a century ofdiseaseandenslavementand the 1715–7Yamasee War.The Cherokee are labelled as "Cherrikies".

Further information:Cherokee military history

The Cherokee gave sanctuary to a band ofShawneein the 1660s. But from 1710 to 1715, the Cherokee andChickasawallied with the British, and fought the Shawnee, who were allied with French colonists, forcing the Shawnee to move northward.

The Cherokee fought with theYamasee,Catawba,and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against theTuscarorain the SecondTuscarora War.The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of a British-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. With the growth of thedeerskin trade,the Cherokee were considered valuable trading partners, since deer skins from the cooler country of their mountain hunting-grounds were of better quality than those supplied by the lowland coastal tribes, who were neighbors of the English colonists.

In January 1716, Cherokee murdered a delegation ofMuscogee Creekleaders at the town ofTugaloo,marking their entry into theYamasee War.It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between the colony ofSouth Carolinaand the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades.These raids came to a head at theBattle of Taliwain 1755, at present-dayBall Ground, Georgia,with the defeat of the Muscogee.

In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, atNikwasi,a Cherokee town and Mississippian culture site, a Scots adventurer, SirAlexander Cuming,crownedMoytoy of Tellicoas "Emperor" of the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize KingGeorge II of Great Britainas the Cherokee protector. Cuming arranged to take seven prominent Cherokee, includingAttakullakulla,toLondon,England. There the Cherokee delegation signed theTreaty of Whitehallwith the British. Moytoy's son,Amo-sgasite(Dreadful Water), attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokee elected their own leader,Conocotocko(Old Hop) ofChota.

Political power among the Cherokee remained decentralized, and towns acted autonomously. In 1735, the Cherokee were said to have sixty-four towns and villages, with an estimated fighting force of 6,000 men.In 1738 and 1739,smallpoxepidemics broke out among the Cherokee, who had no natural immunity to the new infectious disease. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committedsuicidedue to their losses and disfigurement from the disease.

After theAnglo-Cherokee War,bitterness remained between the two groups. In 1765,Henry Timberlaketook three Cherokee chiefs to London meet the Crown and help strengthen the newly declared peace.

British colonial officerHenry Timberlake,born in Virginia, described the Cherokee people as he saw them in 1761:

The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their head is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers,wampum,stained deer hair, and such like baubles. The ears are slit and stretched to an enormous size, putting the person who undergoes the operation to incredible pain, being unable to lie on either side for nearly forty days. To remedy this, they generally slit but one at a time; so soon as the patient can bear it, they wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose. This custom does not belong originally to the Cherokees, but taken by them from the Shawnese, or other northern nations. They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clam-shells, a silver breast-plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of the same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boots, andmockasons(sic), which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine-quills; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all complete their dress at home...

From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds inNorth Georgia.The Cherokee were victorious in theBattle of Taliwa.British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French in theSeven Years' War,which was fought across Europe and was called theFrench and Indian Waron the North American front. These includedFort Loudounnear Chota on the Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760Anglo-Cherokee War.

King George III'sRoyal Proclamation of 1763forbade British settlements west of the Appalachian crest, as his government tried to afford some protection from colonial encroachment to the Cherokee and other tribes they depended on as allies. The Crown found the ruling difficult to enforce with colonists.

From 1771 to 1772, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming theWatauga Association.Daniel Booneand his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but the Shawnee,Delaware,Mingo,and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone's son, James Boone, andWilliam Russell's son, Henry, who were killed in the skirmish.Faragher, John Mack(1992).Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer.New York: Holt. pp. 93–4.ISBN0-8050-1603-1.

In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led byCornstalk,Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in theSecond Cherokee War.Overhill CherokeeNancy Ward,Dragging Canoe's cousin, warned settlers of impending attacks. Provincial militias retaliated, destroying more than 50 Cherokee towns. North Carolina militia in 1776 and 1780 invaded and destroyed theOverhill townsin what is now Tennessee. In 1777, surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the new states.

Dragging Canoeand his band settled alongChickamauga Creeknear present-dayChattanooga, Tennessee,where they established 11 new towns.Chickamauga Townwas his headquarters and the colonists tended to call his entire band theChickamaugato distinguish them from other Cherokee. From here he fought aguerrilla waragainst settlers, which lasted from 1776 to 1794. These are known informally as the Cherokee–American wars, but this is not a historian's term.

The first Treaty ofTellico Blockhouse,signed November 7, 1794, finally brought peace between the Cherokee and Americans, who had achieved independence from the British Crown. In 1805, the Cherokee ceded their lands between theCumberlandandDuck rivers(i.e. theCumberland Plateau) toTennessee.

Scots (and other Europeans) among the Cherokee in the 18th century

The traders and British government agents dealing with the southern tribes in general, and the Cherokee in particular, were nearly all of Scottish ancestry, with many documented as being from theHighlands.A few were Scotch-Irish, English, French, and German (seeScottish Indian trade). Many of these men married women from their host peoples and remained after the fighting had ended. Some of theirmixed-racechildren, who were raised in Native American cultures, later became significant leaders among theFive Civilized Tribesof theSoutheast.

Portrait of MajorJohn Norton (Mohawk chief)as Mohawk Chief TeyoninhokarawenbyMather Brown,ca. 1805.Yale Center for British Art(his father was a Cherokee while John Norton adopted by the Mohawks)

Notable traders, agents, and refugee Tories among the Cherokee includedJohn Stuart,Henry Stuart, Alexander Cameron, John McDonald, John Joseph Vann (father ofJames Vann), Daniel Ross (father ofJohn Ross), John Walker Sr., Mark Winthrop Battle, John McLemore (father of Bob), William Buchanan, John Watts (father ofJohn Watts Jr.),John D. Chisholm,John Benge (father ofBob Benge), Thomas Brown,John Rogers(Welsh), John Gunter (German, founder of Gunter's Landing),James Adair(Irish), William Thorpe (English), and Peter Hildebrand (German), among many others. Some attained the honorary status of minor chiefs and/or members of significant delegations.

By contrast, a large portion of the settlers encroaching on the Native American territories wereScotch-Irish,Irish fromUlsterwho were of Scottish descent and had been part of theplantation of Ulster.They also tended to support the Revolution. But in the back country, there were also Scotch-Irish who were Loyalists, such asSimon Girty.

19th century

Acculturation

The Cherokee lands between theTennesseeandChattahoocheerivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after theCherokee–American wars.Thedeerskin tradewas no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades, the people of the fledglingCherokee Nationbegan to build a new society modeled on the white Southern United States.

Portrait of Major Ridge in 1834, fromHistory of the Indian Tribes of North America.

George Washingtonsought to 'civilize' Southeastern American Indians, through programs overseen by theIndian AgentBenjamin Hawkins.He encouraged the Cherokee to abandon their communal land-tenure and settle on individual farmsteads, which was facilitated by the destruction of many American Indian towns during theAmerican Revolutionary War.Thedeerskin tradebroughtwhite-tailed deerto the brink of extinction, and as pigs and cattle were introduced, they became the principal sources of meat. The government supplied the tribes withspinning wheelsand cotton-seed, and men were taught to fence and plow the land, in contrast to their traditional division in which crop cultivation was woman's labor. Americans instructed the women in weaving. Eventually, Hawkins helped them set up smithies, gristmills and cotton plantations.

The Cherokee organized a national government under Principal ChiefsLittle Turkey(1788–1801),Black Fox(1801–1811), andPathkiller(1811–1827), all former warriors ofDragging Canoe.The 'Cherokee triumvirate' ofJames Vannand his protégésThe RidgeandCharles R. Hicksadvocated acculturation, formal education, and modern methods of farming. In 1801 they invitedMoravianmissionaries fromNorth Carolinato teachChristianityand the 'arts of civilized life.' The Moravians and laterCongregationalistmissionaries ran boarding schools, and a select few students were educated at theAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missionsschool inConnecticut.

In 1806 aFederal RoadfromSavannah, Georgia,toKnoxville, Tennessee,was built through Cherokee land. ChiefJames Vannopened a tavern, inn and ferry across theChattahoocheeand built acotton-plantationon a spur of the road fromAthens, Georgia,toNashville.His son'Rich Joe' Vanndeveloped the plantation to 800 acres (3.2 km²), cultivated by 150 slaves. He exported cotton to England, and owned asteamboaton theTennessee River.

The Cherokee allied with the U.S. against the nativist and pro-BritishRed Stickfaction of the Upper Creek in theCreek Warduring theWar of 1812.Cherokee warriors led byMajor Ridgeplayed a major role in GeneralAndrew Jackson's victory at theBattle of Horseshoe Bend.Major Ridge moved his family toRome, Georgia,where he built asubstantial house,developed a large plantation and ran a ferry on theOostanaula River.Although he never learned English, he sent his son and nephews to New England to be educated in mission schools. His interpreter and protégé ChiefJohn Ross,the descendant of several generations of Cherokee women and Scots fur-traders, built a plantation and operated a trading firm and a ferry at Ross' Landing (Chattanooga, Tennessee). During this period, divisions arose between the acculturated elite and the great majority of Cherokee, who clung to traditional ways of life.

Around 1809Sequoyahbegan developing a written form of the Cherokee language. He spoke no English, but his experiences as a silversmith dealing regularly with white settlers, and as a warrior at Horseshoe Bend, convinced him the Cherokee needed to develop writing. In 1821, he introducedCherokee syllabary,the first written syllabic form of an American Indian language outside ofCentral America.Initially, his innovation was opposed by both Cherokee traditionalists and white missionaries, who sought to encourage the use of English. When Sequoyah taught children to read and write with the syllabary, he reached the adults. By the 1820s, the Cherokee had a higher rate of literacy than the whites around them in Georgia.

Cherokee National Council building,New Echota

In 1819, the Cherokee began holding council meetings at New Town, at the headwaters of theOostanaula(near present-dayCalhoun, Georgia). In November 1825, New Town became the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and was renamedNew Echota,after theOverhill Cherokeeprincipal town ofChota.Sequoyah's syllabary was adopted. They had developed a police force, a judicial system, and a National Committee.

In 1827, the Cherokee Nation drafted a Constitution modeled on the United States, with executive, legislative and judicial branches and a system of checks and balances. The two-tiered legislature was led by Major Ridge and his sonJohn Ridge.Convinced the tribe's survival required English-speaking leaders who could negotiate with the U.S., the legislature appointedJohn Rossas Principal Chief. A printing press was established at New Echota by theVermontmissionarySamuel Worcesterand Major Ridge's nephewElias Boudinot,who had taken the name of hiswhite benefactor,a leader of theContinental CongressandNew JerseyCongressman. They translated the Bible intoCherokee syllabary.Boudinot published the first edition of the bilingual 'Cherokee Phoenix,' the first American Indian newspaper, in February 1828.

Removal era

See also:Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal

Tah-Chee (Dutch), A Cherokee Chief, 1837

Before the final removal to present-day Oklahoma, many Cherokees relocated to present-dayArkansas,Missouriand Texas.Between 1775 and 1786 the Cherokee, along with people of other nations such as theChoctawandChickasaw,began voluntarily settling along theArkansasandRed Rivers.

In 1802, the federal government promised to extinguish Indian titles to lands claimed byGeorgiain return for Georgia's cession of the western lands that becameAlabamaandMississippi.To convince the Cherokee to move voluntarily in 1815, the US government established a Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas.The reservation boundaries extended from north of theArkansas Riverto the southern bank of theWhite River.Di'wali(The Bowl),Sequoyah,Spring Frog and Tatsi (Dutch) and their bands settled there. These Cherokees became known as "Old Settlers."

The Cherokee eventually migrated as far north as theMissouri Bootheelby 1816. They lived interspersed among theDelawaresandShawneesof that area.The Cherokee inMissouri Territoryincreased rapidly in population, from 1,000 to 6,000 over the next year (1816–1817), according to reports by GovernorWilliam Clark.Increased conflicts with theOsage Nationled to theBattle of Claremore Moundand the eventual establishment ofFort Smithbetween Cherokee and Osage communities.In theTreaty of St. Louis (1825),the Osage were made to "cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right, title, interest, and claim, to lands lying within the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas... "to make room for the Cherokee and theMashcoux,Muscogee Creeks.As late as the winter of 1838, Cherokee and Creek living in the Missouri and Arkansas areas petitioned the War Department to remove the Osage from the area.

A group of Cherokee traditionalists led byDi'walimoved toSpanish Texasin 1819. Settling nearNacogdoches,they were welcomed by Mexican authorities as potential allies against Anglo-American colonists. TheTexas Cherokeeswere mostly neutral during theTexas War of Independence.In 1836, they signed a treaty with Texas PresidentSam Houston,an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe. His successorMirabeau Lamarsent militia to evict them in 1839.

Trail of Tears

Main articles:Trail of TearsandCherokee Removal

ChiefJohn Ross,c. 1840

Following the War of 1812, and the concurrentRed Stick War,the U.S. government persuaded several groups of Cherokee to a voluntary removal to the Arkansas Territory. These were the "Old Settlers",the first of the Cherokee to make their way to what would eventually becomeIndian Territory(modern dayOklahoma). This effort was headed by Indian AgentReturn J. Meigs,and was finalized with the signing of theJackson and McMinn Treaty,giving the Old Settlers undisputed title to the lands designated for their use.

During this time, Georgia focused on removing the Cherokee's neighbors, theLower Creek.Georgia GovernorGeorge Troupand his cousinWilliam McIntosh,chief of the Lower Creek, signed theTreaty of Indian Springsin 1825, ceding the lastMuscogee (Creek)lands claimed by Georgia. The state's northwestern border reached theChattahoochee,the border of the Cherokee Nation. In 1829, gold was discovered atDahlonega,on Cherokee land claimed by Georgia. TheGeorgia Gold Rushwas the first in U.S. history, and state officials demanded that the federal government expel the Cherokee. WhenAndrew Jacksonwas inaugurated as president in 1829, Georgia gained a strong ally inWashington.In 1830 Congress passed theIndian Removal Act,authorizing the forcible relocation of American Indians east of theMississippito a new Indian Territory.

Jackson claimed the removal policy was an effort to prevent the Cherokee from facing extinction as a people, which he considered the fate that "...theMohegan,theNarragansett,and theDelaware"had suffered.There is, however, ample evidence that the Cherokee were adapting to modern farming techniques. A modern analysis shows that the area was in general in a state of economic surplus and could have accommodated both the Cherokee and new settlers.

The Cherokee brought their grievances to a US judicial review that set a precedent inIndian country.John Ross traveled to Washington, D.C., and won support fromNational Republican PartyleadersHenry ClayandDaniel Webster.Samuel Worcestercampaigned on behalf of the Cherokee in New England, where their cause was taken up byRalph Waldo Emerson(seeEmerson's 1838 letter to Martin Van Buren). In June 1830, a delegation led by Chief Ross defended Cherokee rights before the U.S. Supreme Court inCherokee Nation v. Georgia.

In 1831, Georgia militia arrestedSamuel Worcesterfor residing on Indian lands without a state permit, imprisoning him inMilledgeville.InWorcester v. Georgia(1832), the USSupreme CourtChief JusticeJohn Marshallruled that American Indian nations were "distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights," and entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments that infringed on theirsovereignty.Worcester v. Georgiais considered one of the most important dicta in law dealing with Native Americans.

Jackson ignored the Supreme Court's ruling, as he needed to conciliate Southern sectionalism during the era of theNullification Crisis.His landslide reelection in 1832 emboldened calls for Cherokee removal. Georgia sold Cherokee lands to its citizens in aLand Lottery,and the state militia occupiedNew Echota.The Cherokee National Council, led by John Ross, fled toRed Clay,a remote valley north of Georgia's land claim. Ross had the support of Cherokee traditionalists, who could not imagine removal from their ancestral lands.

Cherokeebeadworksampler, made atDwight Mission,Indian Territory, 19th century, collection of theOklahoma History Center

A small group known as the "Ridge Party" or the "Treaty Party" saw relocation as inevitable and believed the Cherokee Nation needed to make the best deal to preserve their rights in Indian Territory. Led byMajor Ridge,John RidgeandElias Boudinot,they represented the Cherokee elite, whose homes, plantations and businesses were confiscated, or under threat of being taken by white squatters with Georgia land-titles. With capital to acquire new lands, they were more inclined to accept relocation. On December 29, 1835, the "Ridge Party" signed theTreaty of New Echota,stipulating terms and conditions for the removal of the Cherokee Nation. In return for their lands, the Cherokee were promised a large tract in theIndian Territory,$5 million, and $300,000 for improvements on their new lands.

John Ross gathered over 15,000 signatures for a petition to the U.S. Senate, insisting that the treaty was invalid because it did not have the support of the majority of the Cherokee people. The Senate passed the Treaty of New Echota by a one-vote margin. It was enacted into law in May 1836.

Two years later, PresidentMartin Van Burenordered 7,000 federal troops and state militia under GeneralWinfield Scottinto Cherokee lands to evict the tribe. Over 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly relocated westward toIndian Territoryin 1838–1839, a migration known as theTrail of Tearsor in CherokeeᏅᎾ ᏓᎤᎳ ᏨᏱorNvna Daula Tsvyi(The Trail Where They Cried), although it is described by another wordTlo-va-sa(The Removal). Marched over 800 miles (1,300 km) acrossTennessee,Kentucky,Illinois,MissouriandArkansas,the people suffered from disease, exposure and starvation, and as many as 4,000 died, nearly a fifth of the population.As some Cherokees were slaveholders, they tookenslavedAfrican Americans with them west of the Mississippi. Intermarried European Americans andmissionariesalso walked the Trail of Tears. Ross preserved a vestige of independence by negotiating permission for the Cherokee to conduct their own removal under U.S. supervision.

In keeping with the tribe's "blood law" that prescribed the death penalty for Cherokee who sold lands, Ross's son arranged the murder of the leaders of the "Treaty Party". On June 22, 1839, a party of twenty-five Ross supporters assassinated Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot. The party included Daniel Colston, John Vann, Archibald, James and Joseph Spear. Boudinot's brotherStand Watiefought and survived that day, escaping toArkansas.

In 1827,Sequoyahhad led a delegation of Old Settlers to Washington, D.C., to negotiate for the exchange of Arkansas land for land in Indian Territory. After the Trail of Tears, he helped mediate divisions between the Old Settlers and the rival factions of the more recent arrivals. In 1839, as President of the Western Cherokee, Sequoyah signed an Act of Union with John Ross that reunited the two groups of the Cherokee Nation.

Eastern Band

Cól-lee, a Band Chief, painted byGeorge Catlin,1834

The Cherokee living along theOconaluftee Riverin theGreat Smoky Mountainswere the most conservative and isolated from European–American settlements. They rejected the reforms of the Cherokee Nation. When the Cherokee government ceded all territory east of theLittle Tennessee RivertoNorth Carolinain 1819, they withdrew from the Nation.William Holland Thomas,a white store owner and state legislator fromJackson County, North Carolina,helped over 600 Cherokee fromQualla Townobtain North Carolina citizenship, which exempted them from forced removal. Over 400 Cherokee either hid from Federal troops in the remote Snowbird Mountains, under the leadership ofTsali(ᏣᎵ),or belonged to the former Valley Towns area around theCheoah Riverwho negotiated with the state government to stay in North Carolina. An additional 400 Cherokee stayed on reserves in Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia, and Northeast Alabama, as citizens of their respective states. They were mostly mixed-race and Cherokee women married to white men. Together, these groups were the ancestors of the federally recognizedEastern Band of Cherokee Indians,and some of the state-recognized tribes in surrounding states.

Civil War

Cherokee confederates reunion inNew Orleans,1902.

Further information:Cherokee in the American Civil War

TheAmerican Civil Warwas devastating for both East and Western Cherokee. The Eastern Band, aided byWilliam Thomas,became the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, fighting for the Confederacy in theAmerican Civil War.Cherokee in Indian Territory divided into Union and Confederate factions.

Stand Watie,the leader of the Ridge Party, raised a regiment forConfederateservice in 1861.John Ross,who had reluctantly agreed to ally with the Confederacy, was captured by Federal troops in 1862. He lived in a self-imposed exile inPhiladelphia,supporting the Union. In the Indian Territory, the national council of those who supported the Union voted to abolish slavery in the Cherokee Nation in 1863, but they were not the majority slaveholders and the vote had little effect on those supporting the Confederacy.

Watie was elected Principal Chief of the pro-Confederacy majority. A master of hit-and-run cavalry tactics, Watie fought those Cherokee loyal to John Ross and Federal troops inIndian TerritoryandArkansas,capturing Union supply trains andsteamboats,and saving a Confederate army by covering their retreat after theBattle of Pea Ridgein March 1862. He became a Brigadier General of theConfederate States;the only other American Indian to hold the rank in the American Civil War wasEly S. Parkerwith the Union Army. On June 25, 1865, two months afterRobert E. Leesurrendered atAppomattox,Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to stand down.

Reconstruction and late 19th century

William Penn (Cherokee), His Shield (Yanktonai), Levi Big Eagle (Yanktonai), Bear Ghost (Yanktonai) and Black Moustache (Sisseton).

After the Civil War, the U.S. government required the Cherokee Nation to sign a new treaty, because of its alliance with the Confederacy. The U.S. required the 1866 Treaty to provide for theemancipationof all Cherokee slaves, and full citizenship to all Cherokeefreedmenand all African Americans who chose to continue to reside within tribal lands, so that they "shall have all the rights of native Cherokees."Both before and after the Civil War, some Cherokee intermarried or had relationships with African Americans, just as they had with whites. Many Cherokee Freedmen have been active politically within the tribe.

The US government also acquiredeasementrights to the western part of the territory, which became theOklahoma Territory,for the construction of railroads. Development and settlers followed the railroads. By the late 19th century, the government believed that Native Americans would be better off if each family owned its own land. TheDawes Actof 1887 provided for the breakup of commonly held tribal land into individual household allotments. Native Americans were registered on the Dawes Rolls and allotted land from the common reserve. The U.S. government counted the remainder of tribal land as "surplus" and sold it to non-Cherokee individuals.

TheCurtis Act of 1898dismantled tribal governments, courts, schools, and other civic institutions. For Indian Territory, this meant the abolition of the Cherokee courts and governmental systems. This was seen as necessary before the Oklahoma and Indian territories could be admitted as a combined state. In 1905, theFive Civilized Tribesof theIndian Territoryproposed the creation of theState of Sequoyahas one to be exclusively Native American but failed to gain support in Washington, D.C.. In 1907, theOklahomaandIndian Territoriesentered the union as the state ofOklahoma.

Map of present-day Cherokee Nation Tribal Jurisdiction Area (red)

By the late 19th century, the Eastern Band of Cherokee were laboring under the constraints of asegregatedsociety. In the aftermath ofReconstruction,conservative white Democrats regained power in North Carolina and other southern states. They proceeded to effectivelydisenfranchiseall blacks and many poor whites by new constitutions and laws related to voter registration and elections. They passedJim Crow lawsthat divided society into "white" and "colored", mostly to control freedmen. Cherokee and other Native Americans were classified on the colored side and suffered the same racial segregation and disenfranchisement as former slaves. They also often lost their historical documentation for identification as Indians, when the Southern states classified them as colored. Blacks and Native Americans would not have their constitutional rights as U.S. citizens enforced until after theCivil Rights Movementsecured passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, and the federal government began to monitor voter registration and elections, as well as other programs.

Tribal land jurisdiction status

On July 9, 2020, theUnited States Supreme Courtdecided in theMcGirt v Oklahomadecision in a criminal jurisdiction case that roughly half the land of the state of Oklahoma made up of tribal nations like the Cherokee are officially Native American tribal land jurisdictions.Oklahoma GovernorKevin Stitt,himself a Cherokee Nation citizen, sought to reverse the Supreme Court decision. The following year, the state of Oklahoma couldn't block federal action to grant the Cherokee Nation—along with the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), andSeminoleNations—reservation status.

Population history

John R. Swanton enumerates 201 Cherokee villages and towns.The Cherokee had 6,000 warriors (and therefore around 30,000 people) in years 1730–35 according toJ. Adair.In 1738 they also had 6,000 warriors, but down to 5,000 in 1740 (according to Ga. Hist. Coll., II). ColonelJames Oglethorpeconfirms that they had 5,000 warriors in 1739 (Ga. Coll. Rec., V). Also according to Ga. Coll. Rec., V an epidemic reduced them "by almost one-half" in 1738, but this source doesn't specify how numerous they were before the epidemic. Perhaps this source exaggerates the casualties caused by that epidemic, and in fact it killed just around 1,000 warriors.Arthur Dobbsestimated the Cherokee warrior strength in 1755 at 2,590 (but W. Douglas at about the same time reported 6,000 warriors). In 1761 soon after the end of theAnglo-Cherokee Warthere were 2,300 warriors according toJ. Adair.By year 1768 their number recovered back to 3,000 warriors, and B. R. Carroll in "Historical Collections of South Carolina" also reported that they had 3,000 warriors.By 1819 there were 4,000 warriors (and therefore around 20,000 people - including about 5,000 to the west of the Mississippi).George Catlinestimated 22,000 Cherokees in 1832, before theirremoval.But according to a report by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated November 25, 1841, the number of Cherokees who had already been removed west of the Mississippi (to Oklahoma,Indian Territory) was 25,911.Henry Schoolcraftreported 21,707 Cherokees in 1857. Indian Affairs 1861 reported 22,000. Enumeration published in 1886 counted 23,000 Cherokee in Oklahoma (Indian Territory) as of year 1884.Indian Affairs reported in 1890 around 25,000 among the Western Cherokee (in Oklahoma) and in years 1884 and 1889 around 3,000 among theEastern Cherokee.The Cherokee national census of 1890 in Oklahoma gave the total number of the nation under Cherokee law to be 25,978. In 1900 there were 35,000 in Oklahoma. According toJames Mooney(quoted byFrederick Webb Hodge) the majority of the earlier estimates of the Cherokee population are probably too low as the Cherokee occupied so extensive a territory that only a part of them came into contact with the Whites. Indian Affairs 1910 reported that in 1910 the Cherokee in Oklahoma contained 41,701 people, including 36,301 by blood, 286 by intermarriage and 4,917 freedmen.While the census of 1910 counted 31,489 Cherokees.

In the 2020 census a total of 1,130,730 people claimed Cherokee ancestry.However the percentage of full-blood individuals is probably very low considering that theEastern Band of CherokeeIndians reported having only 395 full-blood members.Perhaps there is a larger number of full-blood individuals among theUnited Keetoowah Bandand among theCherokee Nation.

Culture

Spirituality

The Cherokee believe that the world is divided into two major spiritual forces: "red" (war, success, youth) and "white" (peace, instrospection, old age).

Cultural institutions

The Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., ofCherokee, North Carolina,is the oldest continuing Native American art co-operative. They were founded in 1946 to provide a venue for traditional Eastern Band Cherokee artists.TheMuseum of the Cherokee Indian,also in Cherokee, displays permanent and changing exhibits, houses archives and collections important to Cherokee history, and sponsors cultural groups, such as the Warriors of the AniKituhwa dance group.

In 2007, theEastern Band of Cherokee Indiansentered into a partnership withSouthwestern Community CollegeandWestern Carolina Universityto create the Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts (OICA), to emphasize native art and culture in traditional fine arts education. This is intended both to preserve traditional art forms and encourage exploration of contemporary ideas. Located in Cherokee, OICA offered an associate degree program.In August 2010, OICA acquired a letterpress and had theCherokee syllabaryrecast to begin printing one-of-a-kind fine art books and prints in theCherokee language.In 2012, the Fine Art degree program at OICA was incorporated intoSouthwestern Community Collegeand moved to the SCC Swain Center, where it continues to operate.

TheCherokee Heritage Center,ofPark Hill, Oklahoma,is the site of a reproduction of an ancient Cherokee village, Adams Rural Village (including 19th-century buildings), Nofire Farms, and the Cherokee Family Research Center for genealogy.The Cherokee Heritage Center also houses the Cherokee National Archives. Both theCherokee Nation(of Oklahoma) and theUnited Keetoowah Band of Cherokee,as well as other tribes, contribute funding to the CHC.

Marriage

Before the 19th century,polygamywas common among the Cherokee, especially by elite men.Thematrilinealculture meant that women controlled property, such as their dwellings, and their children were considered born into their mother'sclan,where they gained hereditary status. Advancement to leadership positions was generally subject to approval by the women elders. In addition, the society wasmatrifocal;customarily, a married couple lived with or near the woman's family, so she could be aided by her female relatives. Her eldest brother was a more important mentor to her sons than was their father, who belonged to another clan. Traditionally, couples, particularly women, can divorce freely.

It was unusual for a Cherokee man to marry a European-American woman. The children of such a union were disadvantaged, as they would not belong to the nation. They would be born outside the clans and traditionally were not considered Cherokee citizens. This is because of the matrilineal aspect of Cherokee culture.As the Cherokee began to adopt some elements of European-American culture in the early 19th century, they sent elite young men, such asJohn RidgeandElias Boudinotto American schools for education. After Ridge had married a European-American woman from Connecticut and Boudinot was engaged to another, the Cherokee Council in 1825 passed a law making children of such unions full citizens of the tribe, as if their mothers were Cherokee. This was a way to protect the families of men expected to be leaders of the tribe.

In the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government put new restrictions on marriage between a Cherokee and non-Cherokee, although it was still relatively common. A European-American man could legally marry a Cherokee woman by petitioning the federal court, after gaining the approval of ten of her blood relatives. Once married, the man had status as an "Intermarried White," a member of the Cherokee tribe with restricted rights; for instance, he could not hold any tribal office. He remained a citizen of and under the laws of the United States.Common law marriageswere more popular. Such "Intermarried Whites" were listed in a separate category on the registers of theDawes Rolls,prepared for allotment of plots of land to individual households of members of the tribe, in the early twentieth-century federal policy forassimilationof the Native Americans.

Ethnobotany definition

Main article:Cherokee ethnobotany

Ethnobotany is the study of interrelations between humans and plants; however, current use of the term implies the study of indigenous or traditional knowledge of plants. It involves the indigenous knowledge of plant classification, cultivation, and use as food, medicine and shelter.

Gender roles

Men and women have historically played important yet, at times, different roles in Cherokee society. Historically, women have primarily been the heads of households, owning the home and the land, farmers of the family's land, and "mothers" of theclans.As in manyNative Americancultures, Cherokee women are honored as life-givers.As givers and nurturers of life via childbirth and the growing of plants, and community leaders as clan mothers, women are traditionally community leaders in Cherokee communities. Some have served as warriors, both historically and in contemporary culture in military service. Cherokee women are regarded as tradition-keepers and responsible for cultural preservation.

The redefining of gender roles inCherokeesociety first occurred in the time period between 1776 and 1835.This period is demarcated by theDe Soto explorationand subsequent invasion, was followed by the American Revolution in 1776, and culminated with the signing ofTreaty of New Echotain 1835. The purpose of this redefinition was to push European social standards and norms on theCherokeepeople.The long-lasting effect of these practices reorganized Cherokee forms of government towards a male-dominated society which has affected the nation for generations.Miles argues white agents were mainly responsible for the shifting ofCherokeeattitudes toward women's role in politics and domestic spaces.These "white agents" could be identified aswhite missionariesand whitesettlersseeking out "manifest destiny".By the time of removal in the mid-1830s, Cherokee men and women had begun to fulfill different roles and expectations as defined by the "civilization" program promoted by US presidentsWashingtonandJefferson.

While there is a record of a non-Native traveler in 1825 noticing what he considered to be "men who assumed the dress and performed the duties of women", this observer was unfamiliar with how the Natives in that region dressed. There is no evidence of what would now be considered "two-spirit"individuals in Cherokee society; this is generally the case in matriarchal and matrilineal cultures, asthird genderroles are usually found inpatriarchalsocieties and cultures with more rigid gender roles.

Slavery

See also:Cherokee Freedmen Controversy § Slavery among the Cherokee

Slavery was a component of Cherokee society prior toEuropean colonization,as they frequently enslaved enemy captives taken during times of conflict with other indigenous tribes.By their oral tradition, the Cherokee viewed slavery as the result of an individual's failure in warfare and as a temporary status, pending release or the slave's adoption into the tribe.During thecolonial era,Caroliniansettlers purchased or impressed Cherokeesas slavesduring the late 17th and early 18th century.The Cherokee were also among the Native American peoples who soldIndian slavesto traders for use as laborers in Virginia and further north. They took them as captives in raids on enemy tribes.

As the Cherokee began to adopt some European-American customs, they began to purchaseenslaved African Americansto serve as workers on their farms or plantations, which some of the elite families had in the antebellum years. When the Cherokee were forcibly removed on theTrail of Tears,they took slaves with them, and acquired others inIndian Territory.

Funeral rites

Main article:Cherokee funeral rites

Language and writing system

Further information:Cherokee languageandCherokee syllabary

Sequoyah,the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary

A Cherokee speaker speaking English and Cherokee

The Cherokee speak a SouthernIroquoianlanguage, which ispolysyntheticand is written in asyllabaryinvented bySequoyah(ᏍᏏᏉᏯ) in the 1810s.For years, many people wrote and transliterated Cherokee or used poor intercompatible fonts to type out the syllabary. However, since the fairly recent addition of the Cherokee syllables toUnicode,the Cherokee language is experiencing a renaissance in its use on the Internet.

Because of the polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee language, new and descriptive words in Cherokee are easily constructed to reflect or express modern concepts. Examples includeditiyohihi(ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ), which means "he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose," meaning "attorney." Another example isdidaniyisgi(ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ) which means "he catches them finally and conclusively," meaning "policeman."

Many words, however, have been borrowed from the English language, such asgasoline,which in Cherokee isga-so-li-ne(ᎦᏐᎵᏁ). Many other words were borrowed from the languages of tribes who settled in Oklahoma in the early 20th century. One example relates to a town in Oklahoma named "Nowata". The wordnowatais aDelaware Indianword for "welcome" (more precisely the Delaware word isnu-wi-tawhich can mean "welcome" or "friend" in the Delaware Language). The white settlers of the area used the name "nowata" for the township, and local Cherokees, being unaware the word had its origins in the Delaware Language, called the townAmadikanigvnagvna(ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎾᎬᎾ) which means "the water is all gone from here", i.e. "no water".

Other examples of borrowed words arekawi(ᎧᏫ) forcoffeeandwatsi(ᏩᏥ) forwatch(which led toutana watsi(ᎤᏔᎾ ᏩᏥ) or "big watch" forclock).

The following table is an example of Cherokee text and its translation:

ᏣᎳᎩ:ᏂᎦᏓ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏂᎨᎫᏓᎸᎾ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏂᏠᏱ ᎤᎾᏕᎿ ᏚᏳᎧᏛ ᎨᏒᎢ. ᎨᏥᏁᎳ ᎤᎾᏓᏅᏖᏗ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏃᏟᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏌᏊ ᎨᏒ ᏧᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ ᎠᎾᏟᏅᏢ ᎠᏓᏅᏙ ᎬᏗ.

Tsalagi:Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda'lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv'i. Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.(Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights)

Treaties and government

Treaties

See also:Historic treaties of the Cherokee

The Cherokee have participated in at least thirty-six treaties in the past three hundred years.

Government

1794	Establishment of the Cherokee National Council and officers over the whole nation
1808	Establishment of the Cherokee Lighthorse Guard, a national police force
1809	Establishment of the National Committee
1810	End of separate regional councils and abolition of blood vengeance
1820	Establishment of courts in eight districts to handle civil disputes
1822	Cherokee Supreme Court established
1823	National Committee given power to review acts of the National Council
1827	Constitution of the Cherokee Nation East
1828	Constitution of the Cherokee Nation West
1832	Suspension of elections in the Cherokee Nation East
1839	Constitution of the reunited Cherokee Nation
1868	Constitution of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
1888	Charter of Incorporation issued by the State of North Carolina to the Eastern Band
1950	Constitution and federal charter of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
1975	Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
1999	Constitution of the Cherokee Nation drafted

After being ravaged by smallpox, and feeling pressure from European settlers, the Cherokee adopted a European-AmericanRepresentative democracyform of government in an effort to retain their lands. They established a governmental system modeled on that of the United States, with an elected principal chief, senate, and house of representatives. On April 10, 1810 the seven Cherokee clans met and began the abolition of blood vengeance by giving the sacred duty to the new Cherokee National government. Clans formally relinquished judicial responsibilities by the 1820s when the Cherokee Supreme Court was established. In 1825, the National Council extended citizenship to the children of Cherokee men married to white women. These ideas were largely incorporated into the 1827 Cherokee constitution.The constitution stated that "No person who is of negro ormulatto[sic] parentage, either by the father or mother side, shall be eligible to hold any office of profit, honor or trust under this Government, "with an exception for," negroes and descendants of white and Indian men by negro women who may have been set free. "This definition to limit rights of multiracial descendants may have been more widely held among the elite than the general population.

Modern Cherokee tribes

Cherokee Nation

Flag of the Cherokee Nation

Main article:Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation Historic Courthousein Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

TheCherokee Female Seminarywas built in 1889 by the Cherokee in Indian Territory.

During 1898–1906 the federal government dissolved the former Cherokee Nation, to make way for the incorporation ofIndian Territoryinto the new state ofOklahoma.From 1906 to 1975, the structure and function of the tribal government were defunct, except for the purposes of DOI management. In 1975 the tribe drafted a constitution, which they ratified on June 26, 1976,and the tribe received federal recognition.

In 1999, the CN changed or added several provisions to its constitution, among them the designation of the tribe to be "Cherokee Nation," dropping "of Oklahoma." According to a 2009 statement by BIA headLarry Echo Hawk,the Cherokee Nation is not legally considered the "historical Cherokee tribe" but instead a "successor in interest." The attorney of the Cherokee Nation has stated that they intend to appeal this decision.

The modern Cherokee Nation, in recent times, has expanded economically, providing equality and prosperity for its citizens. Under the leadership of Principal ChiefBill John Baker,the Nation has significant business, corporate, real estate, and agricultural interests. The CN controls Cherokee Nation Entertainment, Cherokee Nation Industries, and Cherokee Nation Businesses. CNI is a very large defense contractor that creates thousands of jobs in eastern Oklahoma for Cherokee citizens.

The CN has constructed health clinics throughout Oklahoma, contributed to community development programs, built roads and bridges, constructed learning facilities and universities for its citizens, instilled the practice ofGadugiand self-reliance, revitalized language immersion programs for its children and youth, and is a powerful and positive economic and political force in Eastern Oklahoma.

The CN hosts theCherokee National Holidayon Labor Day weekend each year, and 80,000 to 90,000 Cherokee citizens travel toTahlequah, Oklahoma,for the festivities. It publishes theCherokee Phoenix,the tribal newspaper, in both English and Cherokee, using the Sequoyah syllabary. The Cherokee Nation council appropriates money for historic foundations concerned with the preservation of Cherokee culture.

The Cherokee Nation supports the Cherokee Nation Film festivals in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and participates in theSundance Film FestivalinPark City, Utah.

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Flag of the Eastern Band Cherokee

Main article:Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, led by Chief Richard Sneed, hosts over a million visitors a year to cultural attractions of the 100-square-mile (260 km²) sovereign nation. The reservation, the "Qualla Boundary",has a population of over 8,000 Cherokee, primarily direct descendants of Indians who managed to avoid"The Trail of Tears".

Attractions include the Oconaluftee Indian Village, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. Founded in 1946, the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual is the country's oldest and foremost Native American crafts cooperative.The outdoor dramaUnto These Hills,which debuted in 1950, recently broke record attendance sales. Together with Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel, Cherokee Indian Hospital and Cherokee Boys Club, the tribe generated $78 million in the local economy in 2005.

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

Flag of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

Main article:United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians formed their government under theIndian Reorganization Actof 1934 and gained federal recognition in 1946. Enrollment in the tribe is limited to people with a quarter or more of Cherokee blood. Many members of the UKB are descended from Old Settlers – Cherokees who moved to Arkansas and Indian Territory before the Trail of Tears.Of the 12,000 people enrolled in the tribe, 11,000 live in Oklahoma. Their chief is Joe Bunch.

The UKB operate a tribal casino, bingo hall, smokeshop, fuel outlets, truck stop, and gallery that showcases art and crafts made by tribal members. The tribe issues their own tribal vehicle tags.

Relations among the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes

The Cherokee Nation participates in numerous joint programs with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It also participates in cultural exchange programs and joint Tribal Council meetings involving councilors from both Cherokee Tribes. These are held to address issues affecting all of the Cherokee people.

174 years after theTrail of Tears,on July 12, 2012, the leaders of the three separate Cherokee tribes met in North Carolina.

Contemporary settlement

Cherokee people are most concentrated in Oklahoma and North Carolina, but some reside in theUS West Coast,due to economic migrations caused by theDust Bowlduring the Great Depression, job availability during the Second World War, and theFederal Indian Relocation programduring the 1950s–1960s. Destinations for Cherokee diaspora included multi-ethnic/racial urban centers of California (i.e. theGreater Los AngelesandSan Francisco Bay Areas). They frequently live in farming communities, or by military bases and other Indian reservations.

Membership controversies

Tribal recognition and membership

Main article:Cherokee Heritage Groups

The three Cherokee tribes have differing requirements for enrollment. The Cherokee Nation determines enrollment by lineal descent from Cherokees listed on theDawes Rollsand has no minimumblood quantumrequirement.Currently, descendants of the Dawes Cherokee Freedman rolls are members of the tribe, pending court decisions. The Cherokee Nation includes numerous members who have mixed ancestry, including African-American, Latino American, Asian American, European-American, and others. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum of one-sixteenth Cherokee blood quantum (genealogical descent, equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) and an ancestor on theBaker Roll.The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum of one-quarter Keetoowah Cherokee blood quantum (equivalent to one grandparent). The UKB does not allow members who have relinquished their membership to re-enroll in the UKB.

The 2000United States censusreported 729,533 Americans self-identified as Cherokee. The 2010 census reported an increased number of 819,105 with almost 70% being mixed-race Cherokees. In 2015, the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Eastern Band of Cherokees had a combined enrolled population of roughly 344,700.

Over 200 groups claim to be Cherokee nations, tribes, or bands.Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller has suggested that some groups, which he callsCherokee Heritage Groups,are encouraged.Others, however, are controversial for their attempts to gain economically through their claims to be Cherokee. The three federally recognized groups note that they are the only groups having the legal right to present themselves as Cherokee Indian Tribes and only their enrolled members are legally Cherokee.

One exception to this may be theTexas Cherokee.Before 1975, they were considered part of the Cherokee Nation, as reflected in briefs filed before theIndian Claims Commission.At one time W.W. Keeler served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and, at the same time, held the position as Chairman of the Texas Cherokee and Associated Bands (TCAB) Executive Committee.

The Mount Tabor Indian Community flag of primarily Cherokee as well asChoctaw,ChickasawandMuscogee-Creek people located inRusk County, Texas.

Following the adoption of the Cherokee constitution in 1976, TCAB descendants whose ancestors had remained a part of the physical Mount Tabor Community inRusk County, Texas,were excluded from CN citizenship. Because they had already migrated from Indian Territory at the time of theDawes Commission,their ancestors were not recorded on the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, which serve as the basis for tracing descent for many individuals. But, most if not all TCAB descendants did have an ancestor listed on either the Guion-Miller or Old settler rolls.

While most Mount Tabor residents returned to the Cherokee Nation after the Civil War and following the death ofJohn Rossin 1866, in the 21st century, there is a sizable group that is well documented but outside that body. It is not actively seeking a status clarification. They have treaty rights going back to theTreaty of Bird's Fort.From the end of the Civil War until 1975, they were associated with the Cherokee Nation.

Other remnant populations continue to exist throughout the Southeast United States and individually in the states surrounding Oklahoma. Many of these people trace descent from persons enumerated on official rolls such as the Guion-Miller, Drennan, Mullay, and Henderson Rolls, among others. Other descendants trace their heritage through the treaties of 1817 and 1819 with the federal government that gave individual land allotments to Cherokee households. State-recognized tribes may have different membership requirements and genealogical documentation than to the federally recognized ones.

Current enrollment guidelines of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma have been approved by the USBureau of Indian Affairs.The CN noted such facts during the Constitutional Convention held to ratify a new governing document. The document was eventually ratified by a small portion of the electorate. Any changes to the tribe's enrollment procedures must be approved by the Department of Interior. Under 25 CFR 83, the Office of Federal Acknowledgment is required to first apply its own anthropological, genealogical, and historical research methods to any request for change by the tribe. It forwards its recommendations to the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs for consideration.

Cherokee Freedmen

Main article:Cherokee Freedmen Controversy

The Cherokee freedmen, descendants of African American slaves owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during theAntebellum Period,were first guaranteed Cherokee citizenship under a treaty with the United States in 1866. This was in the wake of theAmerican Civil War,when the U.S. emancipated slaves and passed US constitutional amendments granting freedmen citizenship in the United States.

In 1988, the federal court in the Freedmen case ofNero v. Cherokee Nationheld that Cherokees could decide citizenship requirements and exclude freedmen. On March 7, 2006, the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeal Tribunal ruled that the Cherokee Freedmen were eligible for Cherokee citizenship. This ruling proved controversial; while the Cherokee Freedman had historically been recorded as "citizens" of the Cherokee Nation at least since 1866 and the laterDawes CommissionLand Rolls, the ruling "did not limit membership to people possessing Cherokee blood".This ruling was consistent with the 1975 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, in its acceptance of the Cherokee Freedmen on the basis of historical citizenship, rather than documented blood relation.

On March 3, 2007, a constitutional amendment was passed by a Cherokee vote limiting citizenship to Cherokees on the Dawes Rolls for those listed as Cherokee by blood on the Dawes roll, which did not include partial Cherokee descendants of slaves, Shawnee and Delaware.The Cherokee Freedmen had 90 days to appeal this amendment vote which disenfranchised them from Cherokee citizenship and file appeal within the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council, which is currently pending inNash, et al. v. Cherokee Nation Registrar.On May 14, 2007, the Cherokee Freedmen were reinstated as citizens of the Cherokee Nation by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Courts through a temporary order and temporary injunction until the court reached its final decision.On January 14, 2011, the tribal district court ruled that the 2007 constitutional amendment was invalid because it conflicted with the 1866 treaty guaranteeing the Freedmen's rights.

See also

• Black drink
• Black Indians in the United States
• Booger Dance
• Kanuchi
• Moon-eyed people
• One-drop rule

References

• Doublass, Robert Sydney. "History of Southeast Missouri", 1992, pp. 32–45
• Evans, E. Raymond. "Notable Persons in Cherokee History: Dragging Canoe".Journal of Cherokee Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2,pp. 176–189. (Cherokee: Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 1977).
• Finger, John R.Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the 20th century.Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991.ISBN0-8032-6879-3.
• Glenn, Eddie."A league of nations?"Tahlequah Daily Press.January 6, 2006 (Accessed May 24, 2007)
• Halliburton, R., jr.:Red over Black – Black Slavery among the Cherokee Indians,Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 1977.
• Irwin, Lee (1992). "Cherokee Healing: Myth, Dreams, and Medicine".American Indian Quarterly.16(2): 237–257.doi:10.2307/1185431.JSTOR1185431.
• Kelton, Paul.Cherokee Medicine, Colonial Germs: An Indigenous Nation's Fight Against Smallpox.Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.
• McLoughlin, William G.Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic.(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).
• Kilpatrick, Jack Frederick. "An Etymological Note on the Tribal Name

of the Cherokees and Certain Place and Proper Names Derived from Cherokee "Journal of the Graduate Research Center 30:37-41, 1962, Southern Methodist University.

• Mooney, James."Myths of the Cherokees." Bureau of American Ethnology, Nineteenth Annual Report, 1900, Part I. pp. 1–576. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
• Perdue, Theda (2000). "Clan and Court: Another Look at the Early Cherokee Republic".The American Indian Quarterly.24(4): 562–569.doi:10.1353/aiq.2000.0024.JSTOR1185890.S2CID162379852.Project MUSE216ProQuest216856997.
• Perdue, Theda.Cherokee women: gender and culture change, 1700–1835.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
• Pierpoint, Mary."Unrecognized Cherokee claims cause problems for nation."Indian Country Today.August 16, 2000 (Accessed May 16, 2007).
• Reed, Julie L.Serving the Nation: Cherokee Sovereignty and Social Welfare, 1800-1907.Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
• Rollings, Willard H. "The Osage: An Ethnohistorical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains." (University of Missouri Press, 1992)
• Royce, Charles C.The Cherokee Nation.Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2007.
• Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor.Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast.Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004.ISBN0-16-072300-0.
• Tortora, Daniel J.Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American Southeast, 1756–1763.Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2015.
• Wishart, David M. (March 1995). "Evidence of Surplus Production in the Cherokee Nation Prior to Removal".The Journal of Economic History.55(1): 120–138.doi:10.1017/S0022050700040596.JSTOR2123770.S2CID154689555.

External links

• Cherokee Nation,official site
• Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,official site
• United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians,official site
• Museum of the Cherokee Indian^[usurped],Cherokee, NC
• Cherokee Heritage Center,Park Hill, OK
• Smithsonian Institution – Cherokee photos and documents
• Cherokee Heritage Documentation Center – Genealogy and Culture
• "Cherokee",Oklahoma Historical SocietyEncyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture