Treaty of Holston with the Cherokee, 1791
At Holston in 1791 the Cherokee ceded land east of the Clinch River for a $1,000 yearly payment and accepted U.S. trade control.
- Signed
- July 2, 1791
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 2.8 million acres
- Promises
- 1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
What happened
What happened
The Tennessee Encyclopedia says the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell did not stop settlers moving onto the Cherokee land. On July 2, 1791, William Blount, governor of the territory south of the Ohio and superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern district, signed a "Treaty of Peace and Friendship" at the Holston River with "the undersigned Chiefs and Warriors of the Cherokee Nation." The treaty was proclaimed February 7, 1792 (7 Stat. 39).
In Article II the Cherokee acknowledged they were under U.S. protection "and of no other sovereign whosoever," and agreed not to treat with any foreign power or state. Article IV set a new boundary and, "in order to extinguish forever all claims" to the land to its right, the United States agreed to deliver valuable goods and to pay $1,000 a year. The Cherokee signers "release, quit-claim, relinquish and cede, all the land to the right of the line." The Tennessee Encyclopedia says the annuity was later raised to $1,500, and that the cession covered claims east of the Clinch River and north of a line through Kingston.
Article V gave U.S. citizens free use of a road from Washington district to Mero district and of the Tennessee River. Article VI gave the United States "the sole and exclusive right of regulating their trade." In Article VII the United States "solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation, all their lands not hereby ceded."
The Tennessee Encyclopedia says further cessions followed in the First Treaty of Tellico, signed October 2, 1798, which granted land that settlers had entered.
What was promised, and what happened
- Partly kept
The United States guaranteed the Cherokee all their lands not ceded by the treaty. (Art. VII)
It granted land that settlers had entered between the Clinch River and the Cumberland Plateau
tennesseeencyclopedia.net
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.
release, quit-claim, relinquish and cede, all the land to the right of the line described
Tribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Holston with the Cherokee, 1791 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)The United States solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation, all their lands not hereby ceded
Tribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Holston with the Cherokee, 1791 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)the Cherokees ceded all claims to the area east of the Clinch River and north of a line through Kingston
Treaties - Tennessee EncyclopediaIt granted land that settlers had entered between the Clinch River and the Cumberland Plateau
Treaties - Tennessee Encyclopedia
Research notes. The treaty text and the Tennessee Encyclopedia both say $1,000 a year; the encyclopedia adds it was later raised to $1,500.
What the treaty did to the land
About 2.8 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 2.8 million acres
Land of the Cherokee in North Carolina and Tennessee, ceded 1791 (area 8)
Ceded by the Cherokee in the 1791 Treaty of Holston, all land east of the boundary it set, in North Carolina and Tennessee.
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.
- 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.
- 1791
This treaty
About 2.8 million acres ceded to the United States by the Cherokee
At Holston in 1791 the Cherokee ceded land east of the Clinch River for a $1,000 yearly payment and accepted U.S. trade control.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Sources
Sources
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/88697242reference work
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.