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SoutheastTreaty

Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee, 1785

At Hopewell in 1785 the Cherokee accepted U.S. protection and a boundary for their hunting grounds, but settlers soon moved into that land.

Signed
November 28, 1785
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 4.4 million acres
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

The Treaty of Hopewell was concluded on November 28, 1785, at Hopewell, on the Keowee River, between Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin and Lachlan McIntosh for the United States and "the Head-Men and Warriors of all the Cherokees." The commissioners "give peace to all the Cherokees, and receive them into the favor and protection of the United States."

The Mississippi Encyclopedia says the commissioners sought to impose a federal Indian policy on the postrevolutionary South and to nullify Spanish influence among southern nations. It says a Cherokee delegation of 918 men and women attended, that discussion centered on boundary disputes, and that "despite the protestations of some Cherokee leaders," the commissioners and 37 Cherokee chiefs and warriors signed.

Article III has the Cherokees acknowledge they are "under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever." Article IV set "the boundary allotted to the Cherokees for their hunting grounds." Under Article V a citizen who settled on land beyond it, or stayed after six months, forfeited U.S. protection, and "the Indians may punish him or not as they please." Article XII gave the Cherokee the right to send a deputy of their choice to Congress.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia says the treaty officially ended fighting between the United States and the Cherokees. It adds, "Settlers moved into that land, however," and the more definitive Treaty of Holston followed on July 2, 1791.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Citizens settling west or south of the boundary would forfeit U.S. protection. (Art. V)

    Settlers moved into that land, however, and the more definitive Treaty of Holston was signed at Knoxville tennesseeencyclopedia.net

Good to know. The treaty sets a boundary for Cherokee hunting grounds and does not use the word cession, though the Tennessee Encyclopedia describes it as ceding land south of the Cumberland River.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. The boundary allotted to the Cherokees for their hunting groundsTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee, 1785 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  2. Despite the protestations of some Cherokee leaders, the US commissioners and 37 Cherokee chiefs and warriors signed the treaty on 28 NovemberTreaty of Hopewell - Mississippi Encyclopedia
  3. Settlers moved into that land, however, and the more definitive Treaty of Holston was signed at KnoxvilleTreaties - Tennessee Encyclopedia
  4. under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoeverTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee, 1785 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)

Research notes. The Tennessee Encyclopedia says Hopewell "ceded an area south of the Cumberland River"; the treaty text sets a hunting-ground boundary and does not use cession wording, so the narrative says boundary.

What the treaty did to the land

About 4.4 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

  1. 1785

    This treaty

    About 4.4 million acres ceded to the United States by the Cherokee

    At Hopewell in 1785 the Cherokee accepted U.S. protection and a boundary for their hunting grounds, but settlers soon moved into that land.

  2. 1785

    Promise broken

    Hopewell 1785 and Holston 1791: settler intrusion onto Cherokee land

    Hopewell (1785) told settlers to stay off Cherokee land, but Franklin made conflicting treaties of its own; Holston (1791) reset the border.

  3. 1831

    In court

    Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

    The Court dismissed the Cherokee Nation's suit against Georgia, calling tribes 'domestic dependent nations' rather than foreign states.

  4. 1832

    In court

    Worcester v. Georgia

    In 1832 the Court held Georgia's laws had no force in the Cherokee Nation and reversed the missionary Samuel Worcester's conviction.

  5. 1832

    Promise broken

    Georgia ignores Worcester v. Georgia (1832): the federal government declines to enforce

    The Supreme Court held in 1832 that Georgia's laws had no force in Cherokee territory; President Jackson did not enforce the ruling.

  6. 2022

    In court

    Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta

    In 2022 the Supreme Court held that Oklahoma may prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian country, alongside the federal government.

The law behind it

The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.

  • Legal doctrine

    criminal jurisdiction

    Who may prosecute a crime in Indian country depends on who the offender and victim are and where it happened.

  • Legal doctrine

    indian country

    Federal law defines 'Indian country' as reservations, dependent Indian communities and Indian allotments; the definition decides which government's laws apply.

  • Legal doctrine

    preemption

    Federal law displaces state law in Indian country when state action conflicts with federal and tribal interests, under White Mountain Apache v. Bracker (1980).

  • Legal doctrine

    state jurisdiction

    The Supreme Court has swung between shielding reservations from state law in Worcester and Williams v. Lee, and allowing state prosecutions in Castro-Huerta.

  • Legal doctrine

    canons of construction

    Courts read ambiguous treaties in favor of tribes and as the Indians would have understood them, rules the Supreme Court has repeated for more than a century.

  • Legal doctrine

    inherent sovereignty

    Tribes' powers of self-government predate the Constitution and are not delegated by Congress, though the Supreme Court says Congress can limit or end them.

  • Legal doctrine

    domestic dependent nations

    In 1831 Marshall called tribes 'domestic dependent nations' whose relation to the United States 'resembles that of a ward to his guardian.'

  • Legal doctrine

    guardianship

    The 'guardian and ward' idea in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia has been used to justify federal power and to demand federal fiduciary care.

  • Legal doctrine

    trust doctrine

    The 1831 'ward and guardian' description became a trust relationship that courts enforce for damages mainly where a statute or regulation creates the duty.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/82573544reference work
Research notes

Wikipedia (pointer) for article content. Georgia and North Carolina contested the boundaries.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.