On Sept. 19, 1863, the pro-Union Cherokee National Council enacted the Cherokee Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery. The document is signed by the illustrious Cherokee leaders Spring Frog, speaker of the National Council, and Lewis Downing, president of the National Council. The document reads that the slaves in the Cherokee Nation were freed because of ”the difficulties and evils to which have arisen from the Institution of Slavery.” The U.S. Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln was given about a year earlier, in 1862.
In the years leading to the U.S. Civil War, many Cherokee, probably the political majority, came under the abolitionist viewpoints of Protestant missionaries. Missionary clergyman Evan Jones and his son, John B. Jones, were closely allied to Cherokee conservatives and Christians, who were increasingly and more openly opposed to slavery. In the late 1850s, abolitionist Cherokees, both Christian and traditional, formed the Keetoowah Society, which was a revival or renewal of an ancient Cherokee religious organization. Among the more conservative Keetoowahs was a secret group often called the Pin Society, or ”pins,” for the special coded insignia they wore. The pins were violently opposed to slave owners, and, at times, went about the country liberating slaves. Many slave owners, wanting to defend the institution of slavery, formed their own society called the Knights of the Golden Circle. The two groups reflected class, cultural and longstanding political antagonisms in Cherokee society.
Early in the Civil War, the slave owners convinced the nation to side with the Confederacy, arguing that Cherokee economy, culture and institutions were naturally allied to the South. In the name of preserving national unity, Chief John Ross, principal chief from 1828 to 1866, and the National Council agreed to an alliance with the South. Most Cherokees, however, were uncomfortable with this state of affairs since they did not own slaves, and many more traditional tribal members barely tolerated exploitive slavery in the nation. In February 1863, the Keetoowahs deserted the Confederate Army and joined the Union Army for the rest of the war. A mini-civil war ensued between the loyal and confederate Cherokees.
After the Civil War, the missionaries Evan and John B. Jones, and families, were granted Cherokee citizenship by an act of the Cherokee National Council. Before then, persons who married Cherokee citizens were granted citizenship, but this act granted citizenship to individuals with no Cherokee bloodline. The Reconstruction Treaty of 1866 required the Cherokee to admit freedmen, the former slaves, to Cherokee citizenship. The former slave owners strongly opposed citizenship for freedmen. In 1871, Principal Chief and Baptist Minister Lewis Downing, with support from his party composed mainly of Christian abolitionists and traditionals, forged agreements and passed legislation admitting freedmen to Cherokee citizenship.
This brief overview of Cherokee history illustrates issues to nation, race and tribal citizenship that many indigenous nations now face. The Cherokee Nation of the 1860s exercised its powers to define and grant citizenship. Citizenship is admission to rights, duties and obligations of the community. One aspect of sovereignty is the right to determine citizenship according to historical circumstances and situations. Today, tribal communities usually are the products of considerable intermarriage with many races and ethnic groups. The processes of intermarriage will most likely continue rather than abate in the future. Defining citizenship by race or blood quantum does not conform to Christian or traditional Indian viewpoints. A racial definition of citizenship compromises concepts of nation and sovereign powers to determine citizenship. Nations allow individuals access by naturalization, and historic Indian nations knew this process through adoption or intermarriage. When our ancestors prayed with the expression ”all my relatives,” they gave respect and reciprocity not only to the plants, animals and celestial powers, but also to the people of all nations.