Cherokee at Washington, DC (1819)
In 1819 the Cherokee ceded land north and east of a line, settling the 1817 treaty, with family reservations and a school fund.
- Signed
- February 27, 1819
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 3.8 million acres
What happened
What happened
On February 27, 1819, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun signed a convention in Washington with chiefs and head men of the Cherokee Nation, "duly authorized and empowered by said nation."
The preamble says "a greater part of the Cherokee nation have expressed an earnest desire to remain on this side of the Mississippi." They wanted the 1817 treaty "finally adjusted" without the delay, trouble or expense of the census it required. The Cherokee therefore offered to cede a tract "at least as extensive as that which they probably are entitled to" under the 1817 treaty. The text says the land ceded was in full satisfaction of all U.S. claims arising from the cession to Cherokee who had gone, or would go, to the Arkansas.
Article 1 ceded all Cherokee lands north and east of a line. It starts on the Tennessee River at the boundary of Madison County, Alabama Territory, follows the Hiwassee and the Blue Ridge, and ends at the Chestatee and Chattahoochee rivers and the Creek boundary. A tract twelve miles square was ceded to the United States in trust, to be sold for a Cherokee school fund. Article 2 promised pay for improvements and a 640-acre reservation to each head of a Cherokee family in the ceded land who chose to become a citizen of the United States. Article 3 granted 640-acre fee-simple reservations to persons on an annexed list.
Article 6 divided the annuity two-thirds to the Cherokee east of the Mississippi and one-third to those west of it.
Good to know. The treaty's account of the Cherokee wish to remain in the east is the document's own framing.
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.
a greater part of the Cherokee nation have expressed an earnest desire to remain on this side of the Mississippi
Treaty with the Cherokee, 1819 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)a tract of country at least as extensive as that which they probably are entitled to under its provisions
Treaty with the Cherokee, 1819 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)the annuity to the Cherokee nation shall be paid, two-thirds to the Cherokees east of the Mississippi
Treaty with the Cherokee, 1819 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
Research notes. Single source (treaty text). The text gives no total acreage. The treaty's own account of the Cherokee wish to remain east is the document's framing.
What the treaty did to the land
About 3.8 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 2.6 million acres
Land of the Cherokee in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 103)
Ceded by the Cherokee to the United States in February 1819, part of their lands north and east of a line drawn by the treaty signed in Washington.
ceded to the United Statesabout 980,000 acres
Land of the Cherokee in Alabama and Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 101)
Ceded by the Cherokee to the United States in February 1819, part of their lands north and east of a line drawn by the treaty signed in Washington.
ceded to the United Statesabout 250,000 acres
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 102)
Ceded by the Cherokee to the United States in February 1819, part of their lands north and east of a line drawn by the treaty signed in Washington.
ceded to the United Statesabout 101,000 acres
Land of the Cherokee in Alabama, ceded 1819 (area 106)
Ceded by the Cherokee in February 1819 as a 12-mile-square tract in Alabama, held in trust and sold to benefit the Cherokee national school fund.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 104)
Ceded by the Cherokee to the United States in February 1819, part of their lands north and east of a line drawn by the treaty signed in Washington.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 105)
Kept by the Cherokee as a small tract at and below the mouth of the Clinch River in the October 1805 Tellico treaty, then ceded to the United States in February 1819.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 107)
Kept by the Cherokee as a one-square-mile tract at the foot of Cumberland Mountain in the October 1805 Tellico treaty, then ceded to the United States in February 1819.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 108)
Kept by the Cherokee as a one-square-mile tract on the Tennessee River at Talootiske's home in the October 1805 Tellico treaty, then ceded to the United States in February 1819.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Cherokee in Tennessee, ceded 1819 (area 109)
Set aside as a 3-square-mile tract opposite the mouth of the Hiwassee in the October 1805 Tellico treaty with the Cherokee, then ceded to the United States in February 1819.
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.
- 1805
- 1819
This treaty
About 3.8 million acres ceded to the United States by the Cherokee
In 1819 the Cherokee ceded land north and east of a line, settling the 1817 treaty, with family reservations and a school fund.
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
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-cherokee-1819-0177reference work
Feb. 27, 1819. | 7 Stat., 195. / scan: . 177
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.