Review of the history of slavery in the Cherokee Nation.
No nation is without controversy, particularly with respect to the question of slavery. In the United States, slavery and its intrinsic social and economic disparities generated a destructive civil conflict. This conflict was not limited to the feuding political entities that constituted the old republic, but rather a total war that engulfed nearly all of the recognized Native American states. The political and social discord over the extension of slavery within tribal regions generated a secondary conflict that proved just as destructive as the one that ravaged the former union. Nowhere was this conflict more evident than in the Cherokee Nation, where the issue of America's "peculiar institution" still pulls at the very fabric of that union.
The Cherokee (or Ani-Yun'wiya; meaning, "principal people") are a southeast Indian group whose language is a branch of the Iroquois family. An agricultural society, the Cherokee were also skilled hunters and craftsmen long before the arrival of the Europeans. Despite land cessions as a consequence of supporting the British during the American Revolution, the resilient Cherokee adapted and even came to ally with the United States in her renewed conflict with Great Britain in 1812. In 1821, a man named Sequouyah completed a written language based on characters representing syllables. In 1827, the Cherokee Nation adopted the very same democratic principals that the United States had been founded upon; with a constitution, a legislature, and an elected head of state (the Principal Chief).
Betrayed in 1930 by the man they had considered a friend (President Andrew Jackson), the Cherokee were ordered to relocate to Oklahoma. Through 1838-39, the U.S. government began to forcibly relocate the Cherokee, Chicksaw, Choctow, Creek, and Seminole to a designated "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma. Now known as the "Trail of Tears," this forced marched resulted in the death of 4,000 Cherokee. A divided Cherokee nation managed to gradually recover and develop a strong agricultural base. This economy was based on slave labor and, like the U.S., the Cherokee reaped the rewards of this practice. The moral questions over holding a population in bondage that created a contentious debate within the greater United States also carried over into the Cherokee Nation. Those in favor of the existence of slavery in the Cherokee state, however, were clearly in the majority. This is not to say that there were not debates within the Cherokee government over ending the practice.
The proponents of slavery adopted a system of absolute control over the lives of the slaves, even making it a crime to teach a slave to read in 1848. By 1960, the total slave population within the Cherokee Nation reached 2,511--representing a significant portion of the population. During the Civil War, the Cherokee once more fragmented into those in favor of an alliance with the Confederacy and those loyal to the Union. While many who argued for an alliance with the Confederacy did so for national security and the hopes of better treatment under the regime, many did so as a means of preserving the status quo. These divisions soon corrupted the Cherokee political establishment and nearly destroyed the nation itself. By 1865, the government was in disarray, Principal Chief John Ross was in Union captivity, and two Cherokee armies fought each other for control over the capital of Tahlequah. Ironically, the Cherokee government had freed the slave population during the war as a means of providing defense against invasion. Many former slaves died defending Cherokee territory. In 1866, the Cherokee Nation agreed to accept permanent settlement in Oklahoma and started to rebuild. Those who had once fought against each other worked together to rebuild the homeland of the "principal people." There remained, however, the question of the close to 3,000 former slaves that were now living among the Cherokee without any established rights.
As a means of distancing themselves from this new class of freedmen, the Cherokee relegated them to the Cooweescoowee District in the northeast corner of tribal territory. Though technically citizens of the Cherokee Nation, the Freedmen were viewed as an underclass. They were not permitted to attend tribal schools and were denied the basic civil services. It took direct pressure from President Rutherford B Hayes to convince the Cherokee to establish schools for Freedmen in 1879. However, this did not put an end to the upward climb of Cherokee Freedmen. In 1888, the Dawes Commission (another effort by the U.S. government to undermine native control over their territories) declared that those who appeared Indian were considered Indian and those who appeared black were considered non-Indian. This seemed to counteract the 1866 treaty signed by the tribe that stated that the former slaves were citizens of the Cherokee Nation.
This decision gave the Cherokee Nation the ability to determine the makeup of its citizenry. However, it has also been used by many to deny the right of Freedmen to be recognized members of the Cherokee state. After years of debate, the Cherokee Supreme Court declared that the descendants of slaves were in fact citizens in March of 2006. This sparked another debate among members of the 250,000 strong nation that resulted in a special election over the status of Cherokee Freedmen. On March 3, 2007, the members of the Cherokee Nation voted to make membership in the tribe based on blood, granting citizenship to a scant few descendants who were the product of intermarriage. Those who argued against the extension of citizenship to the descendant of Freedmen have maintained that to do so would undermine the purity of the native state itself. Conversely, the descendants of Freedmen have argued that they are simply trying to gain the recognition of their unique status within American History. The debate still continues and there is no doubt that another vote on the status of Freedmen will be forthcoming.
Bibliography
Angie Debo, A History of Indians of the United States. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
Carl Waldman, Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006)
