Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Treaty of Hopewell
Three agreements, each known as a Treaty of Hopewell, were signed between representatives of the Congress of the United States and the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw peoples. They were negotiated and signed at the Hopewell plantation in South Carolina over 45 days during the winter of 1785–86.
The treaties were signed at the plantation owned by General Andrew Pickens, which the treaty texts refer to as "Hopewell on the Keowee". Anthropologist James Mooney records that "It was situated on the northern edge of the present Anderson county, on the east side of Keowee River, opposite and a short distance below the entrance of Little River, and about three miles from the present Pendleton. In the sight of it, on the opposite side of Keowee, was the old Cherokee town of Seneca, destroyed by the Americans in 1776."
The chief provision of the treaties was defining boundaries between sovereign tribal lands and lands open to settlement; other boilerplate provisions included exchange of prisoners, prohibition of settlement on tribal lands, rendition of criminals, punishment of crimes against Native Americans, restrictions on retaliation by either side, regulation of trade, and other minor provisions. The order and content of the sections in each Treaty were almost identical with the exception of an article in the Cherokee treaty providing for a Cherokee delegate to Congress (reaffirmed in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota)—a provision that has yet to be fulfilled by the United States as of November 2024.
Despite affixing their signatures to the treaties, none of the Native American tribes recognized the sovereignty of the United States over their ancestral lands.
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:
The boundary allotted to the Cherokees for their hunting grounds, between the said Indians and the citizens of the United States, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the following, viz. Beginning at the mouth of Duck river, on Tennessee; thence running north-east to the ridge dividing the waters running into Cumberland from those running into Tennessee; thence eastward along the said ridge to a north-east line to be run, which shall strike the river Cumberland forty miles above Nashville; thence along the said line to the river; thence up the said river to the ford where the Kentucky road crosses the river; thence to Campbell's line, near Cumberland gap; thence to the mouth of Claud's creek on Holstein; thence to the Chimney-top mountain; thence to Camp-creek, near the mouth of Big Limestone, on Nolichuckey; thence a southerly course six miles to a mountain; thence south to the North-Carolina line; thence to the South-Carolina Indian boundary, and along the same south-west over the top of the Oconee mountain till it shall strike Tugaloo river; thence a direct line to the top of the Currohee mountain; thence to the head of the south fork of Oconee river.
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.
Hub AI
Treaty of Hopewell AI simulator
(@Treaty of Hopewell_simulator)
Treaty of Hopewell
Three agreements, each known as a Treaty of Hopewell, were signed between representatives of the Congress of the United States and the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw peoples. They were negotiated and signed at the Hopewell plantation in South Carolina over 45 days during the winter of 1785–86.
The treaties were signed at the plantation owned by General Andrew Pickens, which the treaty texts refer to as "Hopewell on the Keowee". Anthropologist James Mooney records that "It was situated on the northern edge of the present Anderson county, on the east side of Keowee River, opposite and a short distance below the entrance of Little River, and about three miles from the present Pendleton. In the sight of it, on the opposite side of Keowee, was the old Cherokee town of Seneca, destroyed by the Americans in 1776."
The chief provision of the treaties was defining boundaries between sovereign tribal lands and lands open to settlement; other boilerplate provisions included exchange of prisoners, prohibition of settlement on tribal lands, rendition of criminals, punishment of crimes against Native Americans, restrictions on retaliation by either side, regulation of trade, and other minor provisions. The order and content of the sections in each Treaty were almost identical with the exception of an article in the Cherokee treaty providing for a Cherokee delegate to Congress (reaffirmed in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota)—a provision that has yet to be fulfilled by the United States as of November 2024.
Despite affixing their signatures to the treaties, none of the Native American tribes recognized the sovereignty of the United States over their ancestral lands.
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:
The boundary allotted to the Cherokees for their hunting grounds, between the said Indians and the citizens of the United States, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the following, viz. Beginning at the mouth of Duck river, on Tennessee; thence running north-east to the ridge dividing the waters running into Cumberland from those running into Tennessee; thence eastward along the said ridge to a north-east line to be run, which shall strike the river Cumberland forty miles above Nashville; thence along the said line to the river; thence up the said river to the ford where the Kentucky road crosses the river; thence to Campbell's line, near Cumberland gap; thence to the mouth of Claud's creek on Holstein; thence to the Chimney-top mountain; thence to Camp-creek, near the mouth of Big Limestone, on Nolichuckey; thence a southerly course six miles to a mountain; thence south to the North-Carolina line; thence to the South-Carolina Indian boundary, and along the same south-west over the top of the Oconee mountain till it shall strike Tugaloo river; thence a direct line to the top of the Currohee mountain; thence to the head of the south fork of Oconee river.
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.