Treaty of Hopewell

On November 28, 1785, the first Treaty of Hopewell was signed between the U.S. representative Benjamin Hawkins and the Cherokee Indians. In addition to circumscribing a large part of the northern and eastern boundary of the Cherokee Nation not already defined by previous treaties and land cessions, the treaty ceded a wedge of land south of the Cumberland river in north central Tennessee around Nashville. A description of the boundary is found in Article 4 of the accord: Included in the signatures of the Cherokee delegation were several from leaders of the Chickamauga (Lower Cherokee), including two from the town of Chickamauga itself and one from Lookout Mountain Town. The Cherokee complained at the treaty that some 3,000 white settlers of the de facto State of Franklin were already squatting on the Cherokee side of the agreed line, between the Holston and French Broad Rivers, and they continued to dispute that region until a new border was defined by the 1791 Treaty of Holston. The Cherokee also signed two extra-legal treaties with the State of Franklin: Treaty of Dumplin Creek, 1785, and Treaty of Coyatee in 1786 ceding lands in east Tennessee occupied by the State of Franklin. Neither treaty was recognized by the United States. Congressional deputy Article XII states "That the Indians [...] shall have the right to send a deputy of their choice, whenever they think fit, to Congress." In 2019, Cherokee Nation principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. cited a provision of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota that states that the Cherokee "shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same," in announcing that he intended to appoint, for the first time, a Congressional delegate from the Cherokee Nation. Pending a decision of the Cherokee National Council, Hoskin said he would nominate Kimberly Teehee, a member of the Cherokee Nation who formerly served as a policy advisor in the administration of President Barack Obama, to the post. ==Choctaw treaty==

The US–Choctaw Treaty of Hopewell was signed by the Choctaw at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains on January 3, 1786. The ceded area amounted to 69,120 acres, and the compensation to the Choctaw took the form of protection by the United States. To elaborate, the plenipotentiaries were Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens and Joseph Martin representing the U.S. while representing the Choctaw were 13 small medals and 12 medal and gorget captains. A description of the boundary is found in article 3: The boundary of the lands hereby allotted to the Choctaw Nation to live and hunt on, within the limits of the United States of America, is and shall be the following, viz. Beginning at a point on the thirty-first degree of north latitude, where the Eastern boundary of the Natches district shall touch the same; thence east along the said thirty-first degree of north latitude being the southern boundary of the United States of America, until it shall strike the eastern boundary of the lands on which the Indians of the said nation did live and hunt on the twenty-ninth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, while they were under the protection of the King of Great-Britain; thence northerly along the said eastern boundary, until it shall meet the northern boundary of the said lands; thence westerly along the said northern boundary, until it shall meet the western boundary thereof; thence southerly along the same to the beginning: saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, three tracts of parcels of land of six miles square each, at such places as the United [States] in Congress assembled shall think proper; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use and under the government of the United States of America. ==Chickasaw treaty==

On January 10, 1786, the Treaty of Hopewell was signed between U.S. representatives Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph Martin and the Chickasaw leaders Taski Etoka, Piomingo, and Lotapaia. A description of the boundary is found in Article 3: The boundary of the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt on, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the following, viz. Beginning on the ridge that divides the waters running into the Cumberland, from those running into the Tennessee, at a point in a line to be run north-east, which shall strike the Tennessee at the mouth of Duck river; thence running westerly along the said ridge, till it shall strike the Ohio; thence down the southern banks thereof to the Mississippi; thence down the same, to the Choctaw line or Natches district; thence along the said line, or the line of the district eastwardly as far as the Chickasaws claimed, and lived and hunted on, the twenty-ninth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. Thence the said boundary, eastwardly, shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on, and the lands at present in the possession of the Creeks; saving and reserving for the establishment of a trading post, a tract or parcel of land to be laid out at the lower port of the Muscle shoals, at the mouth of Ocochappo, in a circle, the diameter of which shall be five miles on the river, which post, and the lands annexed thereto, shall be to the use and under the government of the United States of America. ==See also==