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| Cherokee Neutral Lands | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cherokee Neutral Lands |
| Settlement type | Historical territory |
| Established title | Designated |
| Established date | Late 18th century |
| Subdivision type | Former sovereigns |
| Subdivision name | Cherokee Nation; State of Georgia; State of Tennessee; United States |
Cherokee Neutral Lands are a historical tract in the southeastern North America frontier that figured prominently in late 18th- and early 19th-century interactions between the Cherokee Nation, United States, and neighboring European colonists and state governments. The area served as a contested buffer during the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War and the early United States expansion, becoming a focal point in diplomacy, land cession, settlement, and displacement. Its story intersects with treaties, surveying projects, migration routes, and the legal conflicts that culminated in removal policies.
The lands lay within the southern Appalachian region near the Tennessee River, Cumberland Plateau, and river systems feeding the Mississippi River basin, bordered in practice by claims of State of Georgia, State of Tennessee, and later State of North Carolina and State of Alabama. Cartographers such as John Stuart and surveyors like Thomas Hutchins and Andrew Ellicott influenced contemporary maps used in negotiations, while military figures including Anthony Wayne and William Blount mapped approaches and forts along the frontier. Natural landmarks including the Hiawassee River, Conasauga River, and ridgelines of the Blue Ridge Mountains were referenced in descriptions of the tract during negotiations involving delegations from the Cherokee Nation and commissioners appointed by the United States Congress.
The tract emerged from shifting power after the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, when British, Spanish, and American actors sought alliances or control in Southeastern United States territory. Cherokee leaders such as Dragging Canoe, Little Turkey (Cherokee) and later delegates like Major Ridge and John Ross engaged with British agents including Sir James Wright and American representatives such as Benjamin Lincoln and George Washington appointees. Parallel pressures from pioneer migrations along the Great Wagon Road, veterans holding Spanish land grants, and entrepreneurs tied to Specie policies made the tract a flashpoint for conflicting claims that were often mediated through treaty delegations and state legislatures such as the Georgia General Assembly.
Negotiations over the tract involved numbered treaties and agreements such as instruments resembling provisions of the Treaty of Hopewell, Treaty of Holston, and later the Treaty of New Echota in the wider context of U.S.–Cherokee diplomacy. Commissioners like William Findley and William Blount met Cherokee delegations to attempt delineation, while legal advocates including Abraham Baldwin and jurists connected to the Supreme Court of the United States weighed jurisdictional questions. Disputes reached territorial legislatures and occasionally federal courts; congressional debates referenced precedents in the Northwest Ordinance and the Ordinance of 1787 in framing Indian land policy that affected the tract's legal status. Claims by private speculators overlapped with treaties ratified by the United States Senate, creating contested titles adjudicated via state surveys and federal proclamations.
Settlers moving westward established homesteads, trading posts, and agricultural plots along streams and valleys, often following routes used by traders such as John Sevier and Zebulon Pike. Missions affiliated with Moravian Church emissaries and itinerant clergy including Samuel Worcester attempted to establish schools and printing presses among Cherokee communities. Agricultural conversion, timber extraction by entrepreneurs connected to port cities like Savannah, Georgia and New Orleans, and early mining interests attracted by reports similar to those involving the Gold Rush in Dahlonega altered land use. Fortifications like Fort Loudoun and roads authorized by territorial officials facilitated movement and settler encroachment that complicated treaty boundaries.
Relations involved repeated negotiations and conflict with neighboring polities including the Creek Nation, Choctaw, and the United States of America's state actors such as Georgia (U.S. state), Tennessee, and North Carolina. Military leaders such as Andrew Jackson and William Blount played roles in boundary enforcement and campaigns, while interstate commissions mediated overlapping grants and survey disputes involving figures like James Monroe and territorial governors. Intertribal diplomacy, trade networks employing canoe and overland routes, and sporadic raids tied to frontier pressures shaped shifting alliances among Cherokee factions led by figures such as Elias Boudinot and John Ridge.
The tract's eventual dispossession paralleled broader policies culminating in the Indian Removal Act and enforced migrations exemplified by the Trail of Tears. Leaders resisting removal included John Ross and advocates who petitioned the United States Congress and litigated in venues like the Marshall Court, while removal proponents included Major Ridge faction members who signed controversial agreements. The legacy includes legal precedents affecting later cases involving state sovereignty, land claims pursued before the Court of Claims, and memorialization efforts by museums, state archives, and tribal historical commissions such as those affiliated with the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Archaeological surveys by institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, university programs at University of Georgia and University of Tennessee, and state historical societies have documented mound sites, village loci, and material culture linked to the tract. Collections in repositories such as the National Museum of the American Indian and regional museums hold artifacts, maps, and treaty documents, while preservation efforts by organizations like the National Park Service and local historical societies seek to interpret sites connected to Cherokee settlements, trade trails, and missionary stations. Contemporary cultural revitalization involves collaboration between the Cherokee Nation and academic institutions to recover language materials, sacred landscape knowledge, and oral histories associated with the lands.
Category:Former territories of the United States Category:Cherokee Nation Category:Native American history of the United States