106 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ethann.IU 



Evm-y point of the iiuuotiiitioii having failed, aiiotiier course was 

 adopted, and a delegation was selected to visit Washington under the 

 conduct of Agent Meigs. Here the eti'ort -was renewed until, wearied 

 and discouraged at the persistent importunity, the chiefs consented 

 to a large cession, which was represented as necessary in order to com- 

 l)eiisate in area for the tract assigned to the emigrant Cherokee in 

 Arkansas in accordance with the previous treaty. This estimate was 

 based on the figures given by Governor McMinn, who reported 5,291 

 Cherokee enrolled as emigrants, while the eastern Cherokee claimed 

 that not more than 3,5UU had removed and that those remaining num- 

 bered 12,544, or more than three-fourths of the whole nation. The 

 governor, liowever, chose to consider one-half of the nation as in favor 

 of removal and one-third as having alreadj' removed.' 



The treaty, concluded at Washington on February 27, 1819, recites 

 that the greater part of the Cherokee nation, having expressed an 

 earnest desire to remain in the East, and being anxious to begin the 

 necessary measures for the civilization and preservation of their nation, 

 and to settle the differences arising out of the treaty of 1817, have 

 offered to cede to the United States a tract of country '"at least as 

 extensive" as that to which the Government is entitled under the 

 late treaty. The cession embraces (1) a tract in Alaltama and Ten- 

 nessee, between Tennessee and Flint rivers; (2) a tract in Tennessee, 

 between Tennessee river and Waldens ridge; (3) a large irregular tract 

 in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, eml)racing in Tennessee 

 nearly all the remaining Cherokee lands north of Hiwassee river, and 

 in North Carolina and Georgia nearly everything remaining to them 

 east of the Nantahala mountains and the upper western branch of the 

 Chattahoochee; (4) six small pieces reserved by previous treaties. The 

 entire cession aggregated nearh' six thousand square miles, or more 

 than one-fourth of all then held )iy the nation. Individual reservations 

 of one mile square each within tin? ceded area were allowed to a num- 

 ber of families which decided to remain among the whites and become 

 citizens rather than abandon their homes. Payment was to be made 

 for all sul)stantial improvements aliandoned, one-third of ail tribal 

 annuities were hereafter to be paid to the western band, and the treaty 

 was declared to be a final adjustment of all claims and differences aris- 

 ing from the treaty of 1817.'^ 



Civilization had now progressed so far among the Cherokee that in 

 the fall of 1820 they adopted a regular republican form of govern- 

 ment modeled after that of the United States. Under this arrangement 

 the nation was divided into eight districts, each of which was entitled 



1 Royce. Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 222-228, 1888. 

 ^Indian Treaties, pp. 265-269, 1837; Royce, op. cit., pp. 219-221 and table, p.378. 



