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Treaty

Cherokee at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1794)

In 1794 the United States and Cherokee leaders reaffirmed the Holston treaty boundaries and raised the yearly goods payment to $5,000.

Signed
June 26, 1794
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 2 broken or only partly kept

What happened

The 1791 Treaty of Holston had not been fully carried out, the 1794 treaty says, "by reason of some misunderstandings." On 26 June 1794, at Philadelphia, Secretary of War Henry Knox signed a new treaty for the United States with chiefs and warriors acting for the whole Cherokee nation.

Article I declared the Holston treaty in full force, including its boundaries. Article II said those boundaries would actually be surveyed and marked, once the Cherokee had ninety days' notice of when United States commissioners would begin.

In Article III the United States promised to pay the Cherokee for their relinquishments of land under the 1785 Hopewell treaty and the Holston treaty. It did so by agreeing, in place of all earlier sums, to provide goods suited to their use worth five thousand dollars a year.

In Article IV the Cherokee agreed that for each horse stolen from white settlers by a Cherokee and not returned within three months, fifty dollars would be deducted from that annuity. The new articles became permanent additions to Holston once the President and the Senate ratified them. The treaty was proclaimed on 21 January 1795.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Provide the Cherokee goods worth $5,000 each year in place of earlier annual sums. (Art. 3)

    to the amount of five thousand dollars yearly treaties.okstate.edu

  • Not known

    Mark the Holston boundaries after giving the Cherokee ninety days' notice. (Art. 2)

    whenever the Cherokee nation shall have ninety days notice treaties.okstate.edu

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. to furnish the Cherokee Indians with goods suitable for their use, to the amount of five thousand dollars yearlyTreaty with the Cherokee, 1794, Tribal Treaties Database
  2. the sum of fifty dollars shall be deducted from the said annuity of five thousand dollarsTreaty with the Cherokee, 1794, Tribal Treaties Database
  3. the said treaty of Holston is, to all intents and purposes, in full force and binding upon the said partiesTreaty with the Cherokee, 1794, Tribal Treaties Database
  4. shall be actually ascertained and marked in the manner prescribed by the said articleTreaty with the Cherokee, 1794, Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The Holston and Hopewell terms are described only as this treaty refers to them.

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.

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. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-cherokee-1794-0033reference work
    June 26, 1794. | 7 Stat., 43. / scan: TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE, 1794. 33

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