33 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
United States unless approved by the Cherokee national council, except 
in the districts mentioned in article 4. 
9, The Cherokee Nation covenant and agree that slavery shall never 
hereafter exist in the nation. All freedmen, as well as all free colored 
persons resident in the nation at the outbreak of the rebellion and now 
resident therein or who shall return within six months and their de- 
scendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees. Owners of 
emancipated slaves shall never receive any compensation therefor. 
10. All Cherokees shall have the right to sell their farm produce, live 
stock, merchandise, or manufactures, and to ship and drive the same to 
market without restraint, subject to any tax now or hereafter levied by 
the United States on the quantity sold outside of the Indian Territory. 
11. The Cherokee Nation grant a right of way 200 feet in width 
through their country to any company authorized by Congress to con- 
struct a railroad from north to south and from east to west through the 
Cherokee Nation. The officers, employés, and. laborers of such com- 
pany shall be protected in the discharge of their duties while building 
or operating said road through the nation and at all times shall be 
subject to the Indian intercourse laws. 
12. The Cherokees agree to the organization of a general council, to 
be composed of delegates elected to represent all the tribes in the ° 
Indian Territory, and to be organized as follows: 
I. A census shall be taken of each tribe in the Indian Territory. 
II. The first general council shall consist of one member for each 
tribe, and an additional member for each one thousand population or 
fraction thereof over five hundred. Any tribe failing to elect such 
members of council shall be represented by its chief or chiefs and head- 
men in the above proportion. The council shall meet at such time and 
place as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs shall approve. No session 
shall exceed thirty days in any one year. The sessions shall be annual ; 
special sessions may be called by the Secretary of the Interior in his 
discretion. 
IlI. The council shall have power to legislate upon matters pertain- 
ing to intercourse and relations of the tribes and freedinen resident in 
Indian Territory ; the arrest and extradition of criminals and offenders 
escaping from one tribe or community to another; the administration 
of justice between members of different tribes and persons other than 
Indians and members of said tribes or nations; and the common defense 
and safety. All laws enacted by the council shall take effect as therein 
provided, unless suspended by the President of the United States. 
No law shall be enacted inconsistent with the Constitution or laws of 
the United States or with existing treaty stipulations. The council 
shall not legislate upon matters other than above indicated, unless 
jurisdiction shall be enlarged by consent of the national council of each 
nation or tribe, with the assent of the President of the United States. 
