Editing Cherokee (section)

==History==
{{Main|Cherokee history}}

===17th century: English contact===
In 1657, there was a disturbance in [[Virginia Colony]] as the ''Rechahecrians'' or ''Rickahockans'', as well as the Siouan ''[[Manahoac]]'' and ''[[Nahyssan]]'', broke through the frontier and settled near the Falls of the James River, near present-day [[Richmond, Virginia]]. The following year, a combined force of English colonists and [[Pamunkey]] drove the newcomers away. The identity of the ''Rechahecrians'' has been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the ''Eriechronon'' or ''Erielhonan'', commonly known as the [[Erie tribe]], another Iroquoian-speaking people based south of the Great Lakes in present-day northern Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/1/21/316430/Lost-Nation-of-the-Erie-Part-1.aspx|title=Lost Nation of the Erie Part 1|website=www.chattanoogan.com|date=January 21, 2016|first=Chuck|last=Hamilton|access-date=April 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123232302/http://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/1/21/316430/Lost-Nation-of-the-Erie-Part-1.aspx|archive-date=January 23, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>  This Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore of [[Lake Erie]] in 1654 by the powerful [[Iroquois]] Five Nations, also known as ''[[Haudenosaunee]]'', who were seeking more hunting grounds to support their dominance in the beaver fur trade. The [[anthropologist]] Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after the wars ([[#refSmith1987|1986:131–32]]), later becoming known as the [[Westo]] to English colonists in the Province of Carolina. A few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee.<ref>Conley, ''A Cherokee Encyclopedia'', p. 3</ref>

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.<ref>Mooney, ''Myths of the Cherokee'' p. 31.</ref><ref>Lewis Preston Summers, 1903, ''History of Southwest Virginia, 1746–1786'', p. 40</ref>

===18th century===
[[File:Indians NW of South Carolina.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|An annotated copy of a hand-painted [[Catawba people|Catawba]] [[deerskin]] map of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|tribes]] between [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] (''left'') and [[Province of Virginia|Virginia]] (''right'') following the displacements of a century of [[Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas#Depopulation from disease|disease]] and [[Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas|enslavement]] and the 1715–7 [[Yamasee War]]. The Cherokee are labelled as "Cherrikies".]] 
{{Further|Cherokee military history}}

The Cherokee gave sanctuary to a band of [[Shawnee]] in the 1660s. But from 1710 to 1715, the Cherokee and [[Chickasaw]] allied with the British, and fought the Shawnee, who were allied with French colonists, forcing the Shawnee to move northward.<ref>Vicki Rozema, ''Footsteps of the Cherokees'' (1995), p. 14.</ref>

The Cherokee fought with the [[Yamasee]], [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawba]], and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against the [[Tuscarora people|Tuscarora]] in the Second [[Tuscarora 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 the [[deerskin 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 of [[Muscogee Creek]] leaders at the town of [[Tugaloo (Cherokee town)|Tugaloo]], marking their entry into the [[Yamasee War]]. It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between the colony of [[South Carolina]] and the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades.<ref name="oatis">{{cite book |last=Oatis |first=Steven J. |title=A Colonial Complex: South Carolina's Frontiers in the Era of the Yamasee War, 1680–1730 |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8032-3575-5 }}</ref>  These raids came to a head at the [[Battle of Taliwa]] in 1755, at present-day [[Ball Ground, Georgia]], with the defeat of the Muscogee.

In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, at [[Nikwasi]], a Cherokee town and Mississippian culture site, a Scots adventurer, Sir [[Alexander Cuming]], crowned [[Moytoy of Tellico]] as "Emperor" of the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize King [[George II of Great Britain]] as the Cherokee protector. Cuming arranged to take seven prominent Cherokee, including ''[[Attakullakulla]]'', to [[London]], England. There the Cherokee delegation signed the [[Cherokee treaties|Treaty of Whitehall]] with the British. Moytoy's son, [[Amouskositte|Amo-sgasite]] (Dreadful Water), attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokee elected their own leader, [[Conocotocko I|Conocotocko]] (Old Hop) of [[Chota (Cherokee town)|Chota]].<ref name=ecc>Brown, John P. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v016/v016p003.html "Eastern Cherokee Chiefs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211113950/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v016/v016p003.html |date=February 11, 2006 }}, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol. 16, No. 1, March 1938. Retrieved September 21, 2009.</ref>

Political power among the Cherokee remained decentralized, and towns acted autonomously. In 1735, the Cherokee were said to have 64 towns and villages, with an estimated fighting force of 6,000 men.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adair |first=James |author-link=James Adair (historian)|title=The History of the American Indians |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=df5SAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP18 227] |publisher=Dilly |location=London|date=1775 |oclc=444695506}}</ref> In 1738 and 1739, [[smallpox]] epidemics 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 committed [[suicide]] due to their losses and disfigurement from the disease.
[[File:Three Cherokee.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|After the [[Anglo-Cherokee War]], bitterness remained between the two groups. In 1765, [[Henry Timberlake]] took three Cherokee chiefs to London meet the Crown and help strengthen the newly declared peace.]]

British colonial officer [[Henry Timberlake]], born in Virginia, described the Cherokee people as he saw them in 1761:

{{blockquote|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, and [[moccasins|mockasons]] ([[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 ...<ref name=Timberlake>{{cite web|last=Timberlake|first=Henry|title=Memoirs of Henry Timberlake|publisher=London|date=1765|pages=49–51 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsoflieuthe00intimb/page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref>}}

From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds in [[North Georgia]]. The Cherokee were victorious in the [[Battle of Taliwa]]. British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French in the [[Seven Years' War]], which was fought across Europe and was called the [[French and Indian War]] on the North American front. These included [[Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)|Fort Loudoun]] near Chota on the Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760 [[Anglo-Cherokee War]].<ref name="Rozema, pp. 17–23">Rozema, pp. 17–23.</ref>

King George III's [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] forbade 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.<ref name="Rozema, pp. 17–23"/>

From 1771 to 1772, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming the [[Watauga Association]].<ref>[http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/98/entry "Watauga Association"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113232925/http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/98/entry/ |date=November 13, 2009 }}, ''North Carolina History Project.'' . Retrieved September 21, 2009.</ref> [[Daniel Boone]] and his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but the Shawnee, [[Lenape|Delaware]], [[Mingo]], and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone's son, James Boone, and [[William Russell (Virginia politician)|William Russell]]'s son, Henry, who were killed in the skirmish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Faragher |first=John Mack |author-link=John Mack Faragher |title=Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer |date=1992 |publisher=Holt |isbn=0-8050-1603-1 |location=New York |pages=93–4}}</ref>

In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led by [[Cornstalk (Shawnee leader)|Cornstalk]], Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in the [[Cherokee–American wars#The Second Cherokee War|Second Cherokee War]]. [[Overhill Cherokee]] [[Nancy 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 the [[Overhill Cherokee|Overhill towns]] in what is now Tennessee. In 1777, surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the new states.

[[Dragging Canoe]] and his band settled along [[Chickamauga Creek]] near present-day [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], where they established 11 new towns. [[Chickamauga Town]] was his headquarters and the colonists tended to call his entire band the [[Chickamauga Cherokee|Chickamauga]] to distinguish them from other Cherokee. From here he fought a [[Cherokee–American wars|guerrilla war]] against 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 of [[Tellico 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 the [[Cumberland River|Cumberland]] and [[Duck River (Tennessee)|Duck rivers]] (i.e. the [[Cumberland Plateau]]) to [[Tennessee]].

====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 the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]]. A few were Scotch-Irish, English, French, and German (see [[Scottish Indian trade]]). Many of these men married women from their host peoples and remained after the fighting had ended. Some of their [[mixed-race]] children, who were raised in Native American cultures, later became significant leaders among the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] of the [[Southeastern United States|Southeast]].<ref>Mooney, James. ''History, Myths, and Scared Formulas of the Cherokee'', p. 83. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900).</ref>
[[File:Mather Brown - Portrait of Major John Norton as Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''Portrait of Major [[John Norton (Mohawk chief)]] as Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen'' by [[Mather 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 included [[John Stuart (loyalist)|John Stuart]], Henry Stuart, Alexander Cameron, John McDonald, John Joseph Vann (father of [[James Vann]]), Daniel Ross (father of [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]]), John Walker Sr., Mark Winthrop Battle, John McLemore (father of Bob), William Buchanan, John Watts (father of [[John Watts (Cherokee chief)|John Watts Jr.]]), [[Chisholm Tavern (Knoxville)|John D. Chisholm]], John Benge (father of [[Bob Benge]]), Thomas Brown, [[John Rogers (Cherokee chief)|John Rogers]] (Welsh), John Gunter (German, founder of Gunter's Landing), [[James Adair (historian)|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 were [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]], Irish from [[Ulster]] who were of Scottish descent and had been part of the [[Plantations of Ireland|plantation of Ulster]]. They also tended to support the Revolution. But in the back country, there were also Scotch-Irish who were Loyalists, such as [[Simon Girty]].

===19th century===
====Acculturation====
The Cherokee lands between the [[Tennessee River|Tennessee]] and [[Chattahoochee River|Chattahoochee]] rivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after the [[Cherokee–American wars]]. The [[deerskin trade]] was no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades, the people of the fledgling [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]] began to build a new society modeled on the white Southern United States.
[[File:Major ridge.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Major Ridge in 1834, from ''[[History of the Indian Tribes of North America]]''.]]

[[George Washington]] sought to 'civilize' Southeastern American Indians, through programs overseen by the [[Indian Agent]] [[Benjamin 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 the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The [[deerskin trade]] brought [[white-tailed deer]] to the brink of extinction, and as pigs and cattle were introduced, they became the principal sources of meat. The government supplied the tribes with [[spinning wheel]]s and 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 Chiefs [[Little Turkey]] (1788–1801), [[Black Fox (Cherokee chief)|Black Fox]] (1801–1811), and [[Pathkiller]] (1811–1827), all former warriors of [[Dragging Canoe]]. The 'Cherokee triumvirate' of [[James Vann]] and his protégés [[Major Ridge|The Ridge]] and [[Charles R. Hicks]] advocated acculturation, formal education, and modern methods of farming. In 1801 they invited [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] missionaries from [[North Carolina]] to teach [[Christianity]] and the 'arts of civilized life.'  The Moravians and later [[Congregationalist]] missionaries ran boarding schools, and a select few students were educated at the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] school in [[Connecticut]].

In 1806 a [[Federal Road (Cherokee lands)|Federal Road]] from [[Savannah, Georgia]], to [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], was built through Cherokee land. Chief [[James Vann]] opened a tavern, inn and ferry across the [[Chattahoochee River|Chattahoochee]] and built a [[Chief Vann House Historic Site|cotton-plantation]] on a spur of the road from [[Athens, Georgia]], to [[Nashville]]. His son [[Joseph Vann|'Rich Joe' Vann]] developed the plantation to {{convert|800|acre|km2}}, cultivated by 150 slaves. He exported cotton to England, and owned a [[steamboat]] on the [[Tennessee River]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2726&hl=y |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia: Chief Vann House |publisher=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |date=September 23, 2005 |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021100719/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2726&hl=y |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Cherokee allied with the U.S. against the nativist and pro-British [[Red Stick]] faction of the Upper Creek in the [[Creek War]] during the [[War of 1812]]. Cherokee warriors led by [[Major Ridge]] played a major role in General [[Andrew Jackson]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)|Battle of Horseshoe Bend]]. Major Ridge moved his family to [[Rome, Georgia]], where he built a [[Chieftains (Rome, Georgia)|substantial house]], developed a large plantation and ran a ferry on the [[Oostanaula 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 Chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John 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 1809 [[Sequoyah]] began 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 introduced [[Cherokee syllabary]], the first written syllabic form of an American Indian language outside of [[Mesoamerican scripts|Central 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.

[[File:New Echota.jpg|thumb|left|Cherokee National Council building, [[New Echota]]]]

In 1819, the Cherokee began holding council meetings at New Town, at the headwaters of the [[Oostanaula River|Oostanaula]] (near present-day [[Calhoun, Georgia]]). In November 1825, New Town became the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and was renamed [[New Echota]], after the [[Overhill Cherokee]] principal town of [[Chota (Cherokee town)|Chota]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ngeorgia.com/ang/New_Echota_Historic_Site |title=New Echota Historic Site |publisher=Ngeorgia.com |date=June 5, 2007 |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=April 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100424015315/http://ngeorgia.com/ang/New_Echota_Historic_Site |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 son [[John Ridge]]. Convinced the tribe's survival required English-speaking leaders who could negotiate with the U.S., the legislature appointed [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]] as Principal Chief. A printing press was established at New Echota by the [[Vermont]] missionary [[Samuel Worcester]] and Major Ridge's nephew [[Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)|Elias Boudinot]], who had taken the name of his [[Elias Boudinot|white benefactor]], a leader of the [[Continental Congress]] and [[New Jersey]] Congressman. They translated the Bible into [[Cherokee syllabary]]. Boudinot published the first edition of the bilingual '[[Cherokee Phoenix]],' the first American Indian newspaper, in February 1828.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-611&hl=y |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia: Cherokee Phoenix |publisher=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |date=August 28, 2002 |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512150654/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-611&hl=y |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Removal era====
{{See also|Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal}}
[[File:Tahchee.jpg|thumb|Tah-Chee (Dutch), A Cherokee Chief, 1837]]
Before the final removal to present-day Oklahoma, many Cherokees relocated to present-day [[Arkansas]], [[Missouri]] and Texas.<ref>Rollings (1992) pp. 187, 230–255.</ref>  Between 1775 and 1786 the Cherokee, along with people of other nations such as the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]], began voluntarily settling along the [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]] and [[Red River of the South|Red River]]s.<ref>Rollings (1992) pp. 187, 236.</ref>

In 1802, the federal government promised to extinguish Indian titles to lands claimed by [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in return for Georgia's cession of the western lands that became [[Alabama]] and [[Mississippi]]. To convince the Cherokee to move voluntarily in 1815, the US government established a Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas.<ref>Logan, Charles Russell. [http://www.arkansaspreservation.org/pdf/publications/Cherokee_Removal.pdf "The Promised Land: The Cherokees, Arkansas, and Removal, 1794–1839."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020141831/http://www.arkansaspreservation.org/pdf/publications/Cherokee_Removal.pdf |date=October 20, 2007 }} ''Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.'' 1997 . Retrieved September 21, 2009.</ref> The reservation boundaries extended from north of the [[Arkansas River]] to the southern bank of the [[White River (Arkansas)|White River]]. [[The Bowl (Cherokee chief)|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 the [[Missouri Bootheel]] by 1816. They lived interspersed among the [[Delaware Nation|Delawares]] and [[Shawnee]]s of that area.<ref>Doublass (1912) pp. 40–2</ref>  The Cherokee in [[Missouri Territory]] increased rapidly in population, from 1,000 to 6,000 over the next year (1816–1817), according to reports by Governor [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]].<ref>Rollings (1992) p. 235.</ref>  Increased conflicts with the [[Osage Nation]] led to the [[Battle of Claremore Mound]] and the eventual establishment of [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]] between Cherokee and Osage communities.<ref>Rollings (1992) pp. 239–40.</ref> In the [[Treaty 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{{nbsp}}..." to make room for the Cherokee and the ''Mashcoux'', [[Muscogee Creek]]s.<ref>Rollings (1992) pp. 254–5, Doublass (1912) p. 44.</ref> 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.<ref>Rollings (1992) pp. 280–1</ref>

A group of Cherokee traditionalists led by [[The Bowl (Cherokee chief)|''Di'wali'']] moved to [[Spanish Texas]] in 1819. Settling near [[Nacogdoches, Texas|Nacogdoches]], they were welcomed by Mexican authorities as potential allies against Anglo-American colonists. The [[Texas Cherokees]] were mostly neutral during the [[Texas War of Independence]]. In 1836, they signed a treaty with Texas President [[Sam Houston]], an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe. His successor [[Mirabeau Lamar]] sent militia to evict them in 1839.

=====Trail of Tears=====
{{Main|Trail of Tears|Cherokee Removal}}
[[File:Chief John Ross.jpg|left|thumb|upright=.8|Chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]], c. 1840]]

Following the War of 1812, and the concurrent [[Red 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 become [[Indian Territory]] (modern day [[Oklahoma]]). This effort was headed by Indian Agent [[Return J. Meigs Sr.|Return J. Meigs]], and was finalized with the signing of the [[Jackson and McMinn Treaty]], giving the Old Settlers undisputed title to the lands designated for their use.<ref name="Tenn">[https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/treaties/ ''Treaties'']; Tennessee Encyclopedia, online; accessed October 2019</ref>

During this time, Georgia focused on removing the Cherokee's neighbors, the [[Muscogee (Creek)|Lower Creek]]. Georgia Governor [[George Troup]] and his cousin [[William McIntosh]], chief of the Lower Creek, signed the [[Treaty of Indian Springs (1825)|Treaty of Indian Springs]] in 1825, ceding the last [[Muscogee (Creek)]] lands claimed by Georgia. The state's northwestern border reached the [[Chattahoochee River|Chattahoochee]], the border of the Cherokee Nation. In 1829, gold was discovered at [[Dahlonega, Georgia|Dahlonega]], on Cherokee land claimed by Georgia. The [[Georgia Gold Rush]] was the first in U.S. history, and state officials demanded that the federal government expel the Cherokee. When [[Andrew Jackson]] was inaugurated as president in 1829, Georgia gained a strong ally in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]. In 1830 Congress passed the [[Indian Removal Act]], authorizing the forcible relocation of American Indians east of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] to 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 "...the [[Mohegan]], the [[Narragansett people|Narragansett]], and the [[Lenape|Delaware]]" had suffered.<ref>Wishart, p. 120</ref>  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.<ref>Wishart 1995.</ref>

The Cherokee brought their grievances to a US judicial review that set a precedent in [[Indian country]]. John Ross traveled to Washington, D.C., and won support from [[National Republican Party]] leaders [[Henry Clay]] and [[Daniel Webster]]. [[Samuel Worcester]] campaigned on behalf of the Cherokee in New England, where their cause was taken up by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] (see [[Emerson's letter to Martin Van Buren|Emerson'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 in ''[[Cherokee Nation v. Georgia]]''.

In 1831, Georgia militia arrested [[Samuel Worcester]] for residing on Indian lands without a state permit, imprisoning him in [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]]. In ''[[Worcester v. Georgia]]'' (1832), the US [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] [[Chief Justice]] [[John Marshall]] ruled 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 their [[sovereignty]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2720 |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia: "Worcester v. Georgia (1832)" |publisher=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |date=April 27, 2004 |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=September 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918023050/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2720 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Worcester v. Georgia'' is 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 the [[Nullification Crisis]]. His landslide reelection in 1832 emboldened calls for Cherokee removal. Georgia sold Cherokee lands to its citizens in a [[Georgia Land Lottery|Land Lottery]], and the state militia occupied [[New Echota]]. The Cherokee National Council, led by John Ross, fled to [[Red Clay State Park|Red 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.

[[File:Cherokee beadwork sampler 1840 ohs.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Cherokee [[beadwork]] sampler, made at [[Dwight Presbyterian Mission|Dwight Mission]], Indian Territory, 19th century, collection of the [[Oklahoma 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 by [[Major Ridge]], [[John Ridge]] and [[Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)|Elias 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 the [[Treaty 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 the [[Indian Territory]], $5 million, and $300,000 for improvements on their new lands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/documents/treaty_of_new_echota.html |title=Treaty of New Echota, Dec. 29, 1835 (Cherokee – United States) |publisher=Ourgeorgiahistory.com |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=October 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027030209/http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/documents/treaty_of_new_echota.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeehistory7.html |title=Cherokee in Georgia: Treaty of New Echota |publisher=Ngeorgia.com |date=June 5, 2007 |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-date=January 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110212312/http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeehistory7.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Two years later, President [[Martin Van Buren]] ordered 7,000 federal troops and state militia under General [[Winfield Scott]] into Cherokee lands to evict the tribe. Over 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly relocated westward to [[Indian Territory]] in 1838–1839, a migration known as the [[Trail of Tears]] or in Cherokee {{lang|chr|ᏅᎾ ᏓᎤᎳ ᏨᏱ}} or {{lang|chr|Nvna Daula Tsvyi}} (''The Trail Where They Cried''), although it is described by another word {{lang|chr|Tlo-va-sa}} (''The Removal''). Marched over {{convert|800|mi|km}} across [[Tennessee]], [[Kentucky]], [[Illinois]], [[Missouri]] and [[Arkansas]], the people suffered from disease, exposure and starvation, and as many as 4,000 died, nearly a fifth of the population.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What Happened on the Trail of Tears?|url=https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/what-happened-on-the-trail-of-tears.htm|url-status=live|website=National Park Service|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012171452/https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/what-happened-on-the-trail-of-tears.htm |archive-date=October 12, 2020 }}</ref> As some Cherokees were slaveholders, they took [[slavery|enslaved]] African Americans with them west of the Mississippi. Intermarried European Americans and [[missionaries]] also 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/225917.Alex_W_Bealer|title=Books by Alex W. Bealer|publisher=goodreads.com, 1972 and 1996|access-date=March 27, 2011}}</ref>

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 brother [[Stand Watie]] fought and survived that day, escaping to [[Arkansas]].

In 1827, [[Sequoyah]] had 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=====
[[File:Cól-lee, a Band Chief Cherokee by George Catlin (1985.66.285) Smithsonian.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cól-lee, a Band Chief, painted by [[George Catlin]], 1834]]

The Cherokee living along the [[Oconaluftee River]] in the [[Great Smoky Mountains]] were 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 the [[Little Tennessee River]] to [[North Carolina]] in 1819, they withdrew from the Nation.<ref>Theda Purdue, ''Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina'', pg. 40</ref> [[William Holland Thomas]], a white store owner and state legislator from [[Jackson County, North Carolina]], helped over 600 Cherokee from [[Cherokee, North Carolina|Qualla Town]] obtain 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 of [[Tsali]] ({{lang|chr|ᏣᎵ}}),<ref name=Tsali>[http://www.cherokee-nc.com/history.php?Name=Tsali "Tsali."] ''History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians).'' (March 10, 2007)</ref> or belonged to the former Valley Towns area around the [[Cheoah River]] who 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 recognized [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]], and some of the state-recognized tribes in surrounding states.

====Civil War====
[[File:Cherokee Confederates Reunion.gif|upright=1.25|thumb|Cherokee confederates reunion in [[New Orleans]], 1902.]]

{{Further|Cherokee in the American Civil War}}
The [[American Civil War]] was devastating for both East and Western Cherokee. The Eastern Band, aided by [[William Holland Thomas|William Thomas]], became the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, fighting for the Confederacy in the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=Will_Thomas>[http://www.cherokee-nc.com/history.php?Name=Will%20Thomas "Will Thomas."] ''History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians).'' (March 10, 2007)</ref> Cherokee in Indian Territory divided into Union and Confederate factions.

[[Stand Watie]], the leader of the Ridge Party, raised a regiment for [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] service in 1861. [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|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 in [[Philadelphia]], 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 in [[Indian Territory]] and [[Arkansas]], capturing Union supply trains and [[steamboats]], and saving a Confederate army by covering their retreat after the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] in March 1862. He became a Brigadier General of the [[Confederate States]]; the only other American Indian to hold the rank in the American Civil War was [[Ely S. Parker]] with the Union Army. On June 25, 1865, two months after [[Robert E. Lee]] surrendered at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox]], Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to stand down.

====Reconstruction and late 19th century====
[[File:Group of Cherokee, Yankton, and Sisseton 1909.jpg|thumb|left|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 the [[abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]] of all Cherokee slaves, and full citizenship to all [[Cherokee Freedmen]] and all African Americans who chose to continue to reside within tribal lands, so that they "shall have all the rights of native Cherokees."<ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/VOL2/treaties/che0942.htm "Treaty with the Cherokee, 1866."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100630013134/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/VOL2/treaties/che0942.htm |date=June 30, 2010 }} ''Oklahoma Historical Society: Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. 2, Treaties.'' (retrieved January 10, 2010)</ref> 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 acquired [[easement]] rights to the western part of the territory, which became the [[Oklahoma 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. The [[Dawes Act]] of 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.

The [[Curtis Act of 1898]] dismantled 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, the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] of the [[Indian Territory]] proposed the creation of the [[State of Sequoyah]] as one to be exclusively Native American but failed to gain support in Washington, D.C.. In 1907, the [[Oklahoma Territory|Oklahoma]] and [[Indian Territory|Indian Territories]] entered the union as the state of [[Oklahoma]].
[[File:CherokeeOSTA.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|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 a [[Racial segregation|segregated]] society. In the aftermath of [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], conservative white Democrats regained power in North Carolina and other southern states. They proceeded to effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era (United States)|disenfranchise]] all blacks and many poor whites by new constitutions and laws related to voter registration and elections. They passed [[Jim Crow laws]] that 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. Black Americans and Native Americans would not have their constitutional rights as U.S. citizens enforced until after the [[Civil Rights Movement]] secured 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.{{CN|date=February 2025}}

====Tribal land jurisdiction status====
On July 9, 2020, the [[United States Supreme Court]] decided in the [[McGirt v. Oklahoma|McGirt v Oklahoma]] decision 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land|title = Supreme Court Rules That About Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land|website = NPR|date = July 9, 2020|last1 = Wamsley|first1 = Laurel}}</ref> Oklahoma Governor [[Kevin 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), and [[Seminole]] Nations—reservation status.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/oklahoma-governors-tribal-fight-raises-ancestry-questions-69306593|title=Oklahoma governor's tribal fight raises ancestry questions|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref>