Newberry Library - Letter Washington City, to Luke Lea, Comr. Indn. Affairs, 1852 June 17

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Open book Letter Washington City, to Luke Lea, Comr. Indn. Affairs, 1852 June 17

Title Letter Washington City, to Luke Lea, Comr. Indn. Affairs, 1852 June 17

Creator Cherokee Nation

Date 1852

Place Indian Territory

Language English

Subjects Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation, Debts, Public, United States

Description Forms part of the Edward E. Ayer Manuscript Collection (Newberry Library)
In the hand of Lewis Downing.
Additional endorsement: Decline interfering AHHS.
For more information, consult the Special Collections Info. File.

Summary June 17, 1852, letter of the Cherokee Washington delegation (J. Vann, James Kell, Thomas Pegg, and Lewis Downing) to the commissioner of Indian affairs, Luke Lea, proposing the retrocession of the Cherokee Neutral Lands to the federal government. Asking for a reimbursement of $500,000 with back interest, the delegates stated that interest on the proceeds would be applied first to the liquidation of the Nation's public debt and later to education and orphan funds.

Biographical/Historical Note Encompassing 800,000 acres north of the boundary of the Cherokee Nation along the southwest border of Missouri, the Neutral Lands had been granted to the Cherokees by the Treaty of 1835. In exchange, the U.S. deducted $500,000 from the fund accruing to the Cherokee Nation. Faced with a mounting public debt and interested in unloading a useless and unproductive property, the Cherokee Council voted unanimously to retrocede the land to the United States. The efforts of the 1852 Cherokee Washington delegation to negotiate the Neutral Lands' sale were ended when the secretary of the interior, Alexander H.H. Stuart, refused to consider the matter.

Extent 1 item (1 folded sheet (4 p.)) ; 25 cm

Format Correspondence, Manuscripts, American, Records and correspondence, Treaties

Archival Collection Title Edward E. Ayer Collection

Rights Status No Copyright - United States

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Link to Catalog View record

Call Number Ayer MS 156

BibID 136264

Size 2356px × 2969px 20.04 MB

IIIF Resource Type Canvas

Filename 991362648805867_Ayer_MS_156_00001.tif

Unique Identifier NL11I91A