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Treaty

Cherokee at Washington, DC (1816)

In 1816 the Cherokee ceded a small tract on the Chattooga River to South Carolina for $5,000 paid by the state.

Signed
March 22, 1816
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 126,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On March 22, 1816, in Washington, George Graham, authorized by the President, signed a treaty with Cherokee chiefs and headmen "duly authorized and empowered by the said nation." Signers included Major Ridge and John Ross.

The preamble explains the cession. The executive of South Carolina had asked the President to extinguish the Cherokee claim to land inside South Carolina's boundaries, "as lately established and agreed upon" with North Carolina. The treaty says the Cherokee nation "is disposed to comply with the wishes of their brothers of South Carolina."

In Article 1 the Cherokee agreed to "cede to the state of South Carolina, and forever quit claim to" a tract. Its bounds run from the east bank of the Chattooga River along the Cherokee boundary to a rock on the Blue Ridge, then about twenty miles on a course the text gives as south 68 and a quarter degrees west to a rock on the Chattooga at 35 degrees north latitude, and down the river to the start. In Article 2 the United States promised that South Carolina would pay the Cherokee nation $5,000 within ninety days after the treaty was ratified. The payment had two conditions: the Cherokee nation had to approve it in council, and South Carolina's executive had to approve the stipulation.

The treaty was ratified on April 8, 1816, according to the OSU record. The same day, the United States signed a second Cherokee convention, covered in a separate record. The sources here give no acreage and do not describe the council.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 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 extinguish the claim of the Cherokee nation to that part of their lands which lie within the boundaries of the said StateTreaty with the Cherokee, 1816 (7 Stat. 138) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. the State of South Carolina shall pay to the Cherokee nation, or its accredited agent, the sum of five thousand dollarsTreaty with the Cherokee, 1816 (7 Stat. 138) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. the Cherokee nation is disposed to comply with the wishes of their brothers of South CarolinaTreaty with the Cherokee, 1816 (7 Stat. 138) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. The cession was to the State of South Carolina, not to the federal government. This summary rests on the treaty text alone. No cited source describes Cherokee views or the council, and no acreage is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 126,000 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.

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-1816-0124reference work
    Mar. 22, 1816. | 7 Stat., 138. / scan: 124 TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE, 1816.

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