Leadership Lessons from the Cherokee Nation: Learn from All I Observe

CHEROKEE NATION SOVEREIGNTY

1721 The Cherokee Nation signs its first treaty with Great Britain for session of land in South Carolina. This was the first of 10 treaties with Great Britain and 13 more with the United States involving 81 million acres of land, and rights.

1830 The Indian Removal Act allowed the U.S. president to exchange lands of the Indians of the Southeast for U.S. lands in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

1832 The U.S. Supreme Court, in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, held that tribes were “dependent domestic nations” not subject to the laws of Georgia.

1835 The Treaty of New Echota was signed, forcibly removing Cherokees from their homes and creating the Cherokee Trail of Tears in which 4,000 of 16,000 Cherokees died in 1838–1839.