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| Cherokee–American relations | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cherokee–American relations |
| Region | Southeastern United States |
| Period | 16th century–present |
Cherokee–American relations describe interactions between the Cherokee people and various English, colonial, and United States actors from first contact through the present, encompassing diplomacy, warfare, law, and cultural exchange. These relations involved figures, institutions, and events across the Atlantic world, including indigenous polities, European empires, revolutionary movements, and federal Indian policy. The trajectory includes alliances with Virginia Colony, conflicts with South Carolina, treaties negotiated in Philadelphia, legal battles in Washington, D.C., forced migration to Indian Territory, and 20th–21st century efforts in Cherokee Nation sovereignty and cultural revitalization.
Before sustained European settlement the Cherokee inhabited lands in what became Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, interacting with neighboring polities such as the Yuchi, Creek Confederacy, Choctaw Nation, and Chickasaw Nation. Early European contact involved expeditions by Hernando de Soto and trade with Spanish Empire outposts, later shifting to relations with English colonists in Charles Town and Jamestown. Cherokee leaders, including proto-historic figures recorded by James Adair and chronicled in William Bartram's journals, engaged in diplomatic and trade networks tied to the Atlantic Ocean economy, exchanging deerskins with merchants associated with South Carolina Royal Colony and negotiating boundaries near the Appalachian Mountains.
Cherokee society organized around matrilineal clans such as the Wolf Clan and Deer Clan and political centers like the historic towns of Chota and Tanasi. Diplomatic practices used emissaries, speeches, wampum-like belts documented by observers from Colonial America and involved prominent leaders such as Oconostota, Attakullakulla, Dragging Canoe, Tsalagi headmen, and later chiefs like John Ross and Major Ridge. Cherokee legal customs, recorded in accounts by Benjamin Hawkins and missionaries like Samuel Worcester, interfaced with missionary schools established by Moravian Church and Methodist Episcopal Church agents. Intertribal diplomacy included confederations with Lower Cherokee and Upper Cherokee towns and conflict resolution mechanisms observed during councils at sites such as Lookout Mountain.
As imperial rivalries intensified, the Cherokee became entangled in the French and Indian War, aligning variably with Great Britain against rivals like the Choctaw and French colonists in Louisiana (New France). The period saw raids and reprisals during the Cherokee–American wars (1776–1794), with leaders such as Dragging Canoe leading resistance against settlers in Holston River valleys and confronting militia commanded by figures like John Sevier and William Christian. Revolutionary-era alliances shifted as the American Revolutionary War featured Cherokee campaigns allied with British forces and Loyalist militias; postwar dynamics involved punitive expeditions, including operations led from South Carolina and Tennessee Volunteers, and culminated in clashes such as the raids on Nolichucky settlements and the Battle of Point Pleasant-era confrontations.
Treaties including the Treaty of Holston (1791), Treaty of Tellico, Treaty of Hopewell, and Treaty of New Echota reflect negotiated land cessions with officials from United States delegations, commissioners like William Blount, and military figures such as Andrew Jackson. Legal interactions extended to the national judiciary in cases like Worcester v. Georgia and legislative measures including the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Cherokee petitioning and legal strategy involved actors such as John Ross, Elias Boudinot, and attorneys practicing in Supreme Court of the United States circles, while federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs began formal administration of treaty obligations and annuity systems.
Internal Cherokee politics split between the Treaty Party led by Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot and the National Party led by John Ross. The controversial Treaty of New Echota (1835) authorized removal, prompting legal challenges culminating in appeals to President Martin Van Buren and petitions delivered to the United States Capitol. Enforcement involved U.S. Army detachments and state militias from Georgia and Tennessee, resulting in forced marches collectively known as the Trail of Tears, passing through staging areas like Fort Gibson and Bellemont. Humanitarian responses and documentation came from observers associated with American Missionary Association and journalists in publications such as the National Intelligencer.
In Indian Territory (later Oklahoma), Cherokee Nation rebuilt institutions including the Cherokee Supreme Court, established a written constitution in 1839, and developed the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, edited by figures like Elias Boudinot. Relations with the United States Colored Troops and Union authorities during the American Civil War produced internal divisions between supporters of Confederate States and Union factions, embodied by leaders like Stand Watie. Postwar reconstruction involved treaties such as the Treaty of 1866 (United States–Cherokee) obligating land adjustments and citizenship arrangements with freedpeople, and interaction with federal bodies including the Office of Indian Affairs.
Twentieth-century developments included allotment under the Dawes Act, the dissolution and reconstitution of tribal governments after acts like the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, and litigation in forums such as the United States Court of Claims. Modern federal policies under Indian Reorganization Act-era programs, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, and administrative actions by the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs reshaped intergovernmental relations. Contemporary Cherokee institutions—Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians—pursue cultural revitalization via immersion schools, language programs for Tsalagi speakers, economic development with enterprises interacting with Federal Communications Commission and Small Business Administration, and health partnerships with agencies like the Indian Health Service. Legal and jurisdictional disputes have reached the United States Supreme Court in cases involving tribal sovereignty, culminating in decisions affecting criminal and civil jurisdiction such as those addressing reservation boundaries and treaty interpretations.