The year 1854 was in an unusual degree a period of quiet and
comparative freedom from internal dissensions among the Cherokees.
Their government was, however, still in an embarrassed financial
condition. Their national debt was constantly increasing, and they
possessed no revenue aside from the small income derived from the
interest on their invested funds in the hands of the United States.
For a while, following the payment of their per capita money, they
were in the enjoyment of plenty, but with the natural improvidence of
a somewhat primitive people, their substance was wasted and no lasting
benefits were derived therefrom. To add to their embarrassments, a
severe drought throughout the summer resulted in an almost total
failure of their crops. Distress and starvation seemed to be staring
them in the face. Their schools, in which they had taken much
commendable pride, were languishing for want of the funds necessary to
their support, and the general outlook was anything but cheerful.[546]
In this dilemma a delegation was sent to Washington with authority and
instructions to negotiate, if possible, another treaty with the United
States, based upon the following conditions:[547]
1. The Cherokees to retrocede to the United States the 800,000 acre
tract of "neutral land" at the price of $1.25 per acre, as a measure of
relief from their public debt burdens and to replenish their exhausted
school fund.
2. To cede to the United States the unsold portion of the
12-mile-square school fund tract in Alabama, set apart by the treaty of
1819, also at $1.25 per acre, together with the other small reserves in
Tennessee set apart for the same purpose and by the same treaty, for
which latter tracts they should receive $20,000.
3. The United States to compensate the Cherokees living on the 800,000
acre tract for the value of their improvements.
4. The United States to rectify the injustice done to many individual
Cherokees in regard to their claims under the treaty of 1835.
5. The United States to compensate the Cherokees for damages sustained
through the action of citizens of the former in driving and pasturing
stock in the Cherokee country, and to provide effectual measures for
the prevention of such losses in the future.
6. The United States to cause a careful investigation to be made as
to the status of the Cherokee invested fund and to render an account of
the accrued and unpaid interest thereon.
7. The Cherokees to be reimbursed for money expended out of their
funds for subsistence after the expiration of the period of "one year"
provided by the treaty of 1835, but before their people had opportunity
to become settled in their new homes.
8. A just compensation to be made to the Cherokees for the heavy losses
sustained in their sudden and forced removal from their Eastern home.