Cherokee Pros And Cons

During the 19th century, American expansion westward always conflicted with the Native tribes which originally resided in these territories. Many of these Native groups were met with force by white settlers and/or armed forces and pushed further west or divided into smaller groups and displaced into reservations. Some of these Native people, such as the Cherokee nation were able to continue living in their homeland by signing political treaties with the federal government of the United States. Seeing the continued aggressive growth of American territory onto Native lands, the reunified Cherokee nation drafted a constitution in the year 1827 and adapted their political system to mirror the one followed by the United States in hopes to legitimize their sovereignty. …show more content…
The Cherokee constitution was created with the intention to persuade the United States government that the Cherokee people were “civilized” enough to keep their homeland and not be relocated westward,which was the case for most native groups. The Cherokee people adapted their constitution to imitate the U.S constitution in hopes of achieving this goal, both constitutions share three distinct branches of government with a system of checks and balances, while also restricting the political liberties of the black members of their respective societies. Article 5 of the Cherokee constitution states that only a free male citizen of the Cherokee nation has the ability to hold office while black and mulatto members of society will never have the ability “to hold any office of profit, honor or trust under this government”. The enslavement of blacks within Cherokee territory shows the extent to which the Cherokee were willing to go to be seen as “equal” to the United