By the fifteenth article of the treaty of 1866 provision was made that,
upon certain conditions, the United States should have the right to
settle civilized Indians upon any unoccupied Cherokee territory east of
96° west longitude. The material conditions limiting this right were
that terms of settlement should be agreed upon between the Cherokees
and the Indians so desiring to settle, subject to the approval of the
President of the United States; also that, in case the immigrants
desired to abandon their tribal relations and become citizens of the
Cherokee Nation, they should first pay into the Cherokee national
fund a sum of money which should sustain the same proportion to that
fund that the number of immigrant Indians should sustain to the whole
Cherokee population. If, on the other hand, the immigrants should
decide to preserve their tribal relations, laws, customs, and usages
not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation,
a tract of land was to be set apart for them by metes and bounds which
should contain, if they so desired, a quantity equal to 160 acres for
each soul. For this land they were to pay into the Cherokee national
fund a sum to be agreed upon between themselves and the Cherokees,
subject to the approval of the President, and also a sum bearing a
ratio to the Cherokee national fund not greater than their numbers bore
to the Cherokees. It was also stipulated that, if the Cherokees should
refuse their assent to the location of any civilized tribe (in a tribal
capacity) east of 96°, the President of the United States might, after
a full hearing of the case, overrule their objections and permit the
settlement to be made.
The Delawares were the first tribe to avail themselves of the benefits
of the foregoing treaty provisions. Terms of agreement were entered
into between them and the Cherokees, which were ratified by the
President on the 11th of April, 1867. Under the conditions of this
instrument the Delawares selected a tract of land equal to 160 acres
for each member of their tribe who should remove to the Cherokee
country. For this tract they agreed to and did pay one dollar per
acre. They also paid their required proportional sum into the Cherokee
national fund. The number of Delawares who elected to remove under this
agreement was 985. The sums they were required to pay were: for land,
$157,600; and as their proportion of the national fund, $121,834.65,
the latter amount having been calculated on the basis of an existing
Cherokee national fund of $1,678,000 and a population of 13,566.[626]
For a time after their removal the Delawares were much dissatisfied
with what they characterized as the unequal operation of the Cherokee
laws, and because much of the tract of land to which they were assigned
was of an inferior character. At one time some two hundred of them left
the Cherokee country, but after an absence of two years returned, since
which a feeling of better contentment has prevailed. Following the
Delawares, the Munsee or Christian Indians, a small fragmentary band
who under the treaty of July 16, 1859, had become confederated with the
Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan Creek, and Black River, residing in Kansas,
perfected arrangements for their removal and assimilation with the
Cherokees.
An agreement was entered into[627] at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation,
having this end in view, and which was duly filed with the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs.[628] The condition of this agreement was that, after
the complete dissolution of their relations with the Chippewas, the
Munsees should pay into the Cherokee national fund all moneys that
should be found due them in pursuance of such separation. In the spring
of 1868 an effort was made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under
the authority of this same article of the treaty of 1866, to secure a
tract of 900,000 acres for the location of the Navajoes. This tract,
it was desired, should be so far east of 96° that sufficient room
should be left between the Navajoes and that meridian to admit of the
accommodation of a settlement of Cherokees thereon. This proposition,
however, the Cherokees refused to entertain, asserting that the
Navajoes were not civilized Indians within the meaning of the treaty of
1866.[629]
The next Indians to avail themselves of the privileges of Cherokee
citizenship were the Shawnees. By the treaty of 1825[630] a reserve
had been granted them covering an area in the richest portion of
what is now the State of Kansas 50 by 120 miles in extent. By a
subsequent treaty in 1854,[631] they ceded, in deference to the
demands of encroaching civilization, all of this immense tract except
200,000 acres. Among those who so elected, the greater portion of
this diminished reserve was divided into individual allotments of 200
acres each. Patents were issued to the head of each family for the
quantity thus allotted to the members of his or her family, with the
power of alienation, subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of
the Interior might prescribe. In course of time alienation was made
by these allottees of the greater portion of their land; the money
thus received was squandered with the thriftless prodigality that
characterizes barbarous or semi-civilized tribes the world over, and
their impoverished condition was rendered still more uncomfortable by
the seeming determination of the rapidly increasing white settlers
to take possession of their few remaining lands. In this unfortunate
condition of affairs they turned their eyes for relief toward the
country of the Cherokees. Negotiations were entered into which resulted
in the conclusion of an agreement, under date of June 7, 1869, and
which received the approval of President Grant two days later. By the
terms of this compact, the Shawnees then residing in Kansas, as well
as their absentee brethren in the Indian Territory and elsewhere,
who should enroll themselves and permanently remove within two years
to the Cherokee country, upon unoccupied lands east of 96°, should
be incorporated into, and ever after remain a part of the Cherokee
Nation, with the same standing in every respect as native Cherokees. In
consideration of these benefits the Shawnees agreed to transfer to the
Cherokee national fund a permanent annuity of $5,000 held by them under
previous treaties, in addition to the sum of $50,000 to be derived from
the sale of the absentee Shawnee lands provided for by the resolution
of Congress approved April 7, 1869.[632] Under the provisions of this
agreement, seven hundred and seventy Shawnees removed to and settled in
the Cherokee country, as shown by the census roll filed[633] with the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs.