Early Republic · 1798

Treaty with the Cherokees (Tellico), 1798

ID T-0020

Date 1798-10-02

Articles 3

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Cherokee Nation

Context

Executed at Tellico Blockhouse, Tennessee on October 2, 1798. The fourth Cherokee treaty in this volume, required because the Holston boundary had still not been enforced. Settler encroachments continued. This instrument is a cession — the Cherokee ceded additional territory, again to accommodate encroachments that had occurred since the prior treaty.

Significance

Article IV: the Cherokee 'relinquish and cede to the United States all the lands' within a defined boundary — territory that included areas already occupied by settlers. The same pattern as Holston, executed again eight years later. In exchange: continuation of the existing annuity and additional goods. Article VII confirmed Cherokee hunting rights in the ceded territory 'as long as the United States shall think proper to permit it' — a grant at executive discretion, not a right.

Legal Observation

Hunting rights in ceded territory held 'as long as the United States shall think proper to permit' is not a treaty right. It is a revocable license framed in treaty language. The Cherokee who signed this article were acknowledging a permission, not asserting a right. The distinction mattered when settlers contested continued Cherokee presence in the ceded areas.

TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES. 1798. ts shall make it improper, the Cherokee hunters Shall be at liberty i Bist and take panic pol the lands relinquished and ceded by this AERIS

ARTICLE VIII

Due notice shall be given to the principal towns of the Cherokees, of the time proposed for delivering the annual stipends; and sufficient supplies of provisions shall be furnished, by and at the expense of the United States, to subsist such reasonable number that may be sent, or shall attend to receive them during a reasonable time.

ARTICLE IX

It is mutually agreed between the parties, that horses stolen and not returned within ninety days, shall be paid for at the rate of sixty dollars each; if stolen by a white man, citizen of the United States, the Indian proprietor shall be paid in cash ; and if stolen by an Indian from a citizen, to be deducted as expressed in the fourth article of the treaty of Phila- delphia.—T'his article shall have retrospect to the. commencement of the first conferences at this place in the present year, and no further. And all animosities, aggressions, thefts and plunderings, prior to that day shall cease, and be no longer remembered or demanded on either side.

ARTICLE X

The Cherokee nation agree, that the agent who shall be appointed to reside among them from time to time, shall have a sufficient piece of ground allotted for his temporary use. And lastly, This treaty, and the several articles it contains, shall be considered as additional to, and forming a part of, treaties already sub- sisting between the United States and the Cherokee nation, and shall be carried into effect on both sides, with all good faith as soon as the same shall be approved and ratified by the President of the United States, and the Senate thereof. In Wirness of all and every thing herein determined between the United States of America, and the whole Cherokee nation, the parties hereunto set their hands and seals, in the Council-House, near Tellico, on Cherokee ground, and within the United States, this second day of October, in the year one thousand seven hun- dred and ninety-eight, and in the twenty-third year of the Inde- pendence and Sovereignty of the United States. THOS. BUTLER, GEO. WALTON. Ne-ne-tu-ah, or Bloody Fellow, Kettegiskie Ostaiah, Tauquotihee, or the Glass Jaunne, or John, Chuquilatague Oortlokecteh, Salleekookoo-olah Chokonnistaller, or Stallion, Tallo tuskee Noot-hoietah, Chellokee Kunnateetah, or Rising Fawn, Tuskeegatee, or Long Fellow Utturah, or Skin Worm, Neeka-anneah, or Woman Holder Wee-lee, or Will, Kulsateehee Oolasoteh, Keetakeuskah, or Prince Tlorene, Charley Jonnurteekee, or Little John, Akooh Oonatakoteehee, Sawanookeh Kanowsurkee, or Broom, Yonah Equah, or Big Bear Yonah Oolah, Bear at Home, Keenahkunnah Tunksalenee, or Thick Legs, Ka-wee-soola-skee Oorkullaukee Teekakalohenah Kumamah, or Butterfly Ookousetech, or John Taylor Chattakuteehee Chochu Chee Konitta, or Little Turkey

Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. VII. Edited by Richard Peters, Esq. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846. Reprinted by Dennis & Co., Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., 1962. Source lines 6695–6785.