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Treaty

Western Cherokee at Fort Gibson, Arkansas River (1833)

In 1833 at Fort Gibson, the Western Cherokee and the United States redrew the seven-million-acre grant of 1828 after a Creek overlap.

Signed
February 14, 1833
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept

What happened

On 14 February 1833, at Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River, three United States commissioners (Montfort Stokes, Henry Ellsworth and John Schermerhorn) signed a supplementary treaty with chiefs and head men of the Cherokee nation west of the Mississippi. The treaty says it follows the 6 May 1828 convention, which guaranteed the Cherokee seven million acres and a perpetual outlet west.

The preamble explains the problem. The 1828 convention was not to interfere with lands assigned to the Creek, and under a Creek treaty of 24 January 1826, the Creek had the right to select, and did select, part of the same country. The Cherokee and Creek nations west of the Mississippi met in council and agreed on the line between them.

Article 1 therefore restates the pledge to give the Cherokee seven million acres, now within new boundaries, plus the perpetual outlet west. It reserves to the United States the right to let other tribes get salt on a salt plain if it falls within the outlet. In Article 2 the Cherokee quit-claimed any lands from the 1828 grant outside the new limits.

At the Cherokee's request, Article 3 cancelled the 1828 promise of laws and surveys. Article 4 added blacksmith, wagon-maker and wheelwright shops and eight corn mills. The page lists a proclamation on 12 April 1834.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Build blacksmith, wagon-maker and wheelwright shops and eight corn mills for the Cherokee. (Art. 4)

    four blacksmith shops, one wagon maker shop, one wheelwright shop 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. The Cherokee nation hereby relinquish and quit claim to the United States all the right interest and titleTreaty with the Western Cherokee, 1833, Tribal Treaties Database
  2. they had the right to select, and did select, a part of the country described within the boundaries mentioned aboveTreaty with the Western Cherokee, 1833, Tribal Treaties Database
  3. the United States, agree to cancel the same, and the same is hereby annulledTreaty with the Western Cherokee, 1833, Tribal Treaties Database
  4. to guarantee it to them forever, and that guarantee is hereby solemnly pledged, of seven millions of acres of landTreaty with the Western Cherokee, 1828, Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. What the preamble says about the 1826 Creek treaty and the Cherokee-Creek council rests on this text alone.

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.

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-western-cherokee-1833-0385reference work
    Feb. 14, 1833. | 7 Stat., 414. / scan: TREATY WITH THE WESTERN CHEROKEE, 1833. 385

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