Treaty: The Tragedy of New Echota December 28, 1835

The Treaty of New Echota ceded the last of the Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi, with the exception of North Carolina.  It also exposed deep fissures in the Cherokee Nation as to how to deal with the onslaught of settlers encroaching on Native land.

From the beginning of the Republic, from Washington's Administration through that of John Quincy Adams (1824-1828), the federal government had enacted a policy of treating Native tribes as sovereign nations.  In theory, this mean allowing each tribe to handle its own internal affairs.  In practice, the federal government and state governments often interfered directly in tribal government, usually by appointing leaders or favoring leaders who appeared willing to cooperate by ceding land and ignoring the claims of those who weren't.  This interference made divisions within each tribe worse, as some leaders believed that cooperation and co-existence were the best answers to the inevitable displacement off tribal land.  Others were willing to resist encroachment, by force of arms if necessary.  These breaches led to civil wars within some tribes, for example the Creek, or blood feuds, as anger and resentment of each faction's motives gave way to violence.

By 1828, Cherokee land in Georgia had been guaranteed by a series of treaties, as had Cherokee rights to sovereignty.  The state of Georgia, wanting more land for incoming settlers, had pressed the John Quincy Adams administration to rewrite the land treaties with a view toward removing the Cherokee from their land altogether.  Otherwise, Georgia threatened to act on its own, nullify the treaties, disband the Cherokee National Counsel and begin forced removals.  In a windup to the Indian Removal Act, incoming President Andrew Jackson urged Native leaders in the South to cooperate with efforts at removal.  A minor gold rush in Georgia in 1829 sped up the inevitable and Georgia began taking repressive measures against the Cherokee, surveying their lands and holding a lottery to disburse the lands to White settlers. 

Led by Principal Chief John Ross, the Cherokee National Council brought suit in state courts and all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, where Chief Justice John Marshall ruled Georgia's actions unconstitutional.  This, however, did little to address the situation on the ground, as Georgia began forced removals of Cherokee families anyway.  The Jackson Administration sent representatives to persuade the Cherokee to give up their land, including promises of compensation, self-government and relocation assistance.  With these assurances, a faction within the Council began to believe that cooperation with the removal would be the best way of dealing with the inevitable situation.  Members of the Ridge, Boudinot and Watie families urged fellow Council members to cooperate with removal but most were firmly opposed.

These leaders began negotiations with Jackson's Secretary of War, Lewis Cass, seeking the best terms possible in the face of what they perceived to be inevitable removal.  John Ross tried to put a stop to their negotiations, but to no avail.  He openly condemned the treaty negotiations, with the result that the Treaty Party split from the National Council and began holding their own meetings.  Tempers flared and violence broke out amidst the various factions.  Finally, in 1835, Jackson sent a delegation to negotiate a final treaty with the Cherokee.  Ross's faction proposed a counter-offer and a meeting was set in 1835 to take place at New Echota, the Cherokee capitol at the time.  In late December, 1835, as delegate arrived at New Echota, the weather prohibited some leaders from attending.  Despite this, the leaders present agreed a treaty that did not have the approval of Principal Chief John Ross or a vote of the National Council.

Per the terms of the treaty, the Cherokees would receive compensation for the land given up, additional monies for educational funds, an amount of land in Indian Territory equal to the amount ceded back east, and individual compensation for any property left behind.  The treaty contained a clause allowing individual Cherokee to stay and become citizens, but Jackson ordered that provision stricken.  The Treaty negotiations concluded on December 29, 1835 and the formal treaty was signed on March 1, 1836.  With publication of the terms of the treaty, John Ross and the National Council objected and stated that they did not approve the treaty.  Ross went to Washington to urge the Senate not to ratify the Treaty but it was ratified any way.  The incoming Van Buren Administration directed the Army under General Winfield Scott to begin forced removals. 

The forced removal known forever as the Cherokee Trail of Tears began in 1836, but even deeper fissures were running through the Cherokee Nation.  Treaty Party versus National Party, East versus West, Old Settlers versus Late Settlers, families and clans against each other and even brothers and cousins against one another.  The anger at those who had dared to sign the treaty, or against those who felt they were making the situation worse by resisting would wear on for decades, even as hundreds of Cherokee died of hunger and exposure along the trail and in the next few years of settlement in Oklahoma.