Treaty with the Cherokee (Cherokee Agency), 1817

What happened

On July 8, 1817, Andrew Jackson, Joseph McMinn and David Meriwether signed a treaty at the Cherokee Agency with the chiefs, head men and warriors of the Cherokee nation east of the Mississippi and of the Cherokees on the Arkansas River.

The preamble recalls that in 1808 a deputation from the lower towns asked to remove west of the Mississippi, because game was scarce and they wished to keep hunting. On January 9, 1809, the President answered that those who wished to remove could explore the Arkansas and White rivers, and that an exchange would be arranged for "a just portion of the country they leave." The treaty says the Cherokee who went west relied on that promise and settled on the Arkansas and White rivers.

In Article 1 the whole Cherokee nation ceded lands north and east of a boundary beginning at the high shoals of the Appalachee River, "in exchange for other lands." Article 2 ceded more land farther west. Article 5 bound the United States to give those on the Arkansas as much land there "acre for acre" as it received from the nation in the east. Article 8 offered 640-acre reservations to heads of families in the ceded area who wished to become U.S. citizens.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says "increasing federal and state pressure on the remaining Cherokee" led to the treaty, which it calls the Turkeytown Treaty. It adds that many eastern Cherokee saw the treaty as a betrayal.

Good to know. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas calls this the Turkeytown Treaty, though the text says it was concluded at the Cherokee Agency.

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