During the two years following the conclusion of the treaty of 1866
peace and quietude prevailed among the Cherokees. They were blessed
with abundant crops and the bitter animosities of the past years became
greatly softened, insomuch that the Secretary of the Interior, in the
spring of 1868,[617] under the authority of the President, directed
that negotiations be opened with them for a new treaty in compliance
with their request.[618] Articles of agreement were accordingly entered
into on the 9th of July, 1868,[619] between N. G. Taylor, commissioner
on behalf of the United States, and the principal chiefs and delegates
representing the Cherokee Nation. The reasons rendering this treaty
both desirable and necessary are thus set forth in the preamble, viz:
Whereas the feuds and dissensions which for many years divided
the Cherokees and retarded their progress and civilization have
ceased to exist, and there remains no longer any cause for
maintaining the political divisions and distinctions contemplated
by the treaty of 19th July, 1866; and whereas the whole Cherokee
people are now united in peace and friendship, and are earnestly
desirous of preserving and perpetuating the harmony and unity
prevailing among them; and whereas many of the provisions of said
treaty of July 19, 1866, are so obscure and ambiguous as to render
their true intent and meaning on important points difficult to
define and impossible to execute and may become a fruitful source
of conflict not only amongst the Cherokees themselves but between
the authorities of the United States and the Cherokee Nation and
citizens; and whereas important interests remain unsettled between
the Government of the United States and the Cherokee Nation and its
citizens, which in justice to all concerned ought to be speedily
adjusted: Therefore, with a view to the preservation of that
harmony which now so happily subsists among the Cherokees, and to
the adjustment of all unsettled business growing out of treaty
stipulations between the Cherokee Nation and the Government of the
United States, it is mutually agreed by the parties to this treaty
as follows, etc.
Among the more important objects sought to be accomplished, and for
which provision was made in the treaty, were:
1. The abolition of all party distinctions among the Cherokees and the
abrogation of all laws or treaty provisions tending to preserve such
distinctions.
2. The boundaries of the Cherokee country are defined in detail and as
extending as far west as the northeast corner of New Mexico.
3. The United States reaffirm all obligations to the Cherokees arising
out of treaty stipulations or legislative acts of the Government.
4. The United States having by article 2 of the treaty with the
Comanches and Kiowas of October 18, 1865, set apart for their use
and occupation and that of other friendly tribes that portion of the
Cherokee domain lying west of 98° W. longitude and south of 37° N.
latitude; and having further, by article 16 of Cherokee treaty of July
19, 1866, set apart in effect for the like purpose of settling friendly
Indians thereon all the remaining Cherokee domain west of 96° W.
longitude, agree to pay to the Cherokees therefor, including the tract
known as the "Cherokee strip," in the State of Kansas, and estimated
to contain in the aggregate the quantity of 13,768,000 acres, the sum
of $3,500,000. This agreement was accompanied with the proviso that
the Cherokees should further relinquish to the United States all right
and interest in and to that portion of the Cherokee "outlet" embraced
within the Pan Handle of Texas, containing about 3,000,000 acres, as
well as that portion within New Mexico and Colorado, excepting and
reserving, however, all salines west of 99° to the Cherokees.
5. The United States agree to refund to the Cherokees the sum of
$500,000 paid by the latter for the tract of "neutral land," under the
treaty of 1835, together with 5 per cent. interest from the date of
that treaty, and to apply for the use and benefit of the former all
moneys accruing from the sale of that tract.
6. The United States agree to ascertain the number of acres of land
reserved and owned by the Cherokee Nation in the State of Arkansas, and
in States east of the Mississippi River, and to pay to the Cherokees
the appraised value thereof.
7. The United States agree to pay all arrears of Cherokee annuities
accruing during the war and remaining unpaid.
8. Citizens of the United States having become citizens of the
Cherokee Nation, shall not be held to answer before any court of the
United States any further than if they were native-born Cherokees.
All Cherokees shall be held to answer for any offense committed among
themselves within the Cherokee Nation only to the courts of that
nation, and for any offense committed without the limits of the nation
shall be answerable only in the courts of the United States.
9. The post and reservation of Fort Gibson having been reoccupied by
the United States, it is agreed that all Cherokees who purchased lots
at the former sale of the military reserve by the Cherokee authorities,
after its abandonment by the United States, shall be reimbursed for all
losses occasioned by such military reoccupation.
10. The United States shall continue to appoint a superintendent of
Indian affairs for the Indian Territory and an agent for the Cherokees.
11. A commission of three persons (two citizens of the United States
and one Cherokee) shall be appointed to pass upon and adjudicate all
claims of the Cherokee Nation, or its citizens, against the United
States, or any of the several States.
12. The powers of the agent provided for by the twenty-second article
of the treaty of 1866 to examine the accounts of the Cherokee Nation
with the United States are enlarged to include the accounts of
individual Cherokees with the United States.
13. All claims against the United States for Cherokee losses through
the action of the military authorities of the United States, or from
the neglect of the latter to afford the protection to the Cherokees
guaranteed by treaty stipulation, are to be examined and reported on by
the commission appointed under the eleventh article of this treaty.
14. Full faith and credit shall be given by the United States to the
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of the Cherokee Nation
when properly authenticated.
15. Cherokees east of the Mississippi River, who remove within three
years to the Cherokee Nation, shall be entitled to all the privileges
of citizens thereof. After that date they can only be admitted to
citizenship by act of the Cherokee national council.
16. Every Cherokee shall have the free right to sell, ship, or drive
to market any of his produce, wares, or live stock without taxation
by the United States, or any State, and no license to trade in the
Cherokee Nation shall be granted unless approved by the Cherokee
council.
17. Fifty thousand dollars shall be allowed for the expenses of the
Cherokee delegation in negotiating this treaty, one half to be paid out
of their national fund.
18. Executors and administrators of the owners of confiscated property
shall have the right, under the third article of the treaty of 1866, to
take possession of such property.
19. Twenty-four thousand dollars shall be paid by the Cherokee Nation
to the heir of Bluford West, as the value of a saline and improvements
of which he was dispossessed.
20. Abrogation is declared of so much of article 7, treaty of 1866, as
vests in United States courts jurisdiction of causes arising between
citizens of the Cherokee Nation, and transfers such jurisdiction to the
Cherokee courts.
21. Provision of the treaty of 1866 relative to freedmen is reaffirmed;
the United States guarantee the Cherokees in the possession of their
lands and protection from domestic strife, hostile invasions, and
aggressions by other Indian tribes or lawless whites.