Congress considers fulfilling 200-year-old promise to seat Cherokee Nation delegate | PBS NewsHour
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Politics Nov 17, 2022 11:55 AM EST
The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma moved a step closer on Wednesday to having a promise fulfilled from nearly 200 years ago that a delegate from the tribe be seated in Congress.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin was among those who testified before the U.S. House Rules Committee, which is the first to examine the prospect of seating a Cherokee delegate in the U.S. House. Hoskin, the elected leader of the 440,000-member tribe, put the effort in motion in 2019 when he nominated Kimberly Teehee, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, to the position. The tribe's governing council then unanimously approved her.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Thursday's hearing as a "key first step toward identifying what actions must be taken to honor this long-standing promise."
"The House Democratic Caucus will continue to explore a path toward welcoming a delegate from the Cherokee Nation into the people's House," Pelosi said in a statement.
The tribe's right to a delegate is detailed in the Treaty of New Echota signed in 1835, which provided the legal basis for the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi River and led to the Trail of Tears, but it has never been exercised. A separate treaty in 1866 affirmed this right, Hoskin said.
"The Cherokee Nation has in fact adhered to our obligations under these treaties. I'm here to ask the United States to do the same," Hoskin told the panel.
Hoskin suggested to the committee that Teehee could be seated as early as this year by way of either a resolution or change in statute, and the committee's chairman, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. James McGovern, and other members supported the idea that it could be accomplished quickly.
"This can and should be done as quickly as possible," McGovern said. "The history of this country is a history of broken promise after broken promise to Native American communities. This cannot be another broken promise."
But McGovern and other committee members, including ranking member Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, acknowledged there are some questions that need to be resolved, including whether other Native American tribes are afforded similar rights and whether the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is the proper successor to the tribe that entered into the treaty with the U.S. government.
McGovern said he has been contacted by officials with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Delaware Nation, both of which have separate treaties with the U.S. government that call for some form of representation in Congress. McGovern also noted there also are two other federally recognized bands of Cherokee Indians that argue they should be considered successors to the 1835 treaty: the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians based in North Carolina, both of which reached out to his office.
The UKB selected its own congressional delegate, Oklahoma attorney Victoria Holland, in 2021. Holland said in an interview with The Associated Press that her tribe is a successor to the Cherokee Nation that signed the 1835 treaty, just like the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
"As such, we have equal rights under all the treaties with the Cherokee people and we should be treated as siblings," Holland said.
Only a few Native Americans serve in Congress, including Cole and U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who was elected earlier this month to the U.S. Senate, where he will become the first Native American in that body in nearly 20 years.
"As a member of the Cherokee Nation, I firmly believe the federal government must honor its trust and treaty responsibilities to Indian Nations," Mullin said in a statement. "We are only as good as our word."
Members of the committee seemed to be in agreement that any delegate from the Cherokee Nation would be similar to five other delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands. These delegates are assigned to committees and can submit amendments to bills, but cannot vote on the floor for final passage of bills. Puerto Rico is represented by a non-voting resident commissioner who is elected every four years.
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Sean Murphy, Associated Press Sean Murphy, Associated Press
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The Treaty of New Echota is crystal clear on this. As per SCOTUS a treaty is the highest law of the land.
The Cherokee violated and annulled the Treaty of New Echota by rebelling and supporting the Confederacy in the Civil War.
Nice try but it was re-written in 1866 after the war and the original treaty was reaffirmed.
You might want to read the article so you don't look like a fool.
Damn, viscous own with details to back it up.
try but it was re-written in 1866 after the war and the original treaty was reaffirmed.
Let's review so you understand. You don't seem to understand either that basis of the claim for a delegate or the relevant history. The treaty was signed in 1835 and remained in effect until the Cherokee went to war with the USA to protect their right to own slaves and allied themselves by treaty with the Confederate States of America. After the US defeated the slaveholding Cherokee and CSA, a new treaty was signed. The 1835 Treaty was not "rewritten" whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean and the Treaty of 1866 makes no mention of a delegate for the Cherokee. But let's say it somehow survived the rebellion and alliance with the CSA.
The Treaty of 1835 doesn't promise a delegate. It promises that Congress will consider it. The first clue to that might be the recognition that no delegate was seated before the Cherokee went to war with the US to protect slavery. And when you look at the treaty between the Confederacy and their Cherokee allies, you see what an actual commitment to seat a delegate looks like. Compare the language and you'll understand why their never was a "promise" to seat anyone.
That is incorrect. SCOTUS said treaties are the highest law of the land and the only entity that can abrogate a treaty is the US Congress. They never did so the Treaty was always in effect.
why do you hate Native Americans?
... 200 years late. pathetic...
I'll believe it when I see it happen. Hope I live long enough to see it actually happen.
Is this good enough? Is it "sufficient" for delegates? Is it power? Or just influence?
It is good enough from the prior president.
Please elaborate. . . .
Sorry, it should read precedent.
Understood.
We'll see and hope it can exert a proper amount of pressure in the dedicate positions to effect positive change. In any case, more NA voices is a big deal! 
Congratulations to Native Americans for rising on the 'radar screen' of politics. Welcome! It's so good to see you all! BTW, in California, just this morning I watched a 'tribal' Thank you for voting NO on Proposition 27 (Results: California Proposition 27: Voters say no to legalizing sports gambling with revenue going toward social causes).
No on Proposition 26 (California Proposition 26: Voters decline to legalize specific types of gambling on Native American lands).
That is good news.
I agree. It is good news! Yahoos keep telling people to succeed; well, those yahoos need to stand down and let people work out their success stories in time. It is not like those yahoos in other states don't have venues for their services and gaming already!
I am sure they will be back. . .the money in California is just too much of a draw. In two years, high probability more gaming propositions (2.0 version) on the ballot.
By the way, what will the Cherokee delegates be looking to advocate for on a regular basis? They must come prepared with an agenda, no?
It's true. I know little and am willing to learn!
There will be a number of issues that they will advocate for. The first is probably Tribal Sovereignty the case that is now before SCOTUS, ICWA which is huge and any issue that involves natives.
Wonderful. I don't know the acronym ICWA, though.
Indian Child Welfare Act.
I hope they get this done during the present Congress, because when the Republicans control they House they will undoubtedly do everything they can to thwart the agreement.
That is probably correct, but with the underlying proof (treaty) if they do try to top it it will end up in SCOTUS.