New Echota, GA - A Virtual Tour
Elias Boudinot
The Treaty of New Echota was signed at the Boudinot house on December 29, 1835. The shattering of the Cherokee Nation was a direct result of this treaty.
This treaty was not legal because it did not have the proper authority of the tribe. The signing members were later executed since the legal penalty for transferring Cherokee property was death.
This treaty is a source of great pain for the Cherokee people, because it split their nation. Those signing the treaty knew they were signing their own death warrant, but it was really a no-win situation for them. Without the treaty, the Cherokee would have been slaughtered by the troops. With the signing of the treaty, many Cherokee were lost on the Trail of Tears.
The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma consists of those who survived the Trail of Tears. The Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina consists of those who were hidden in the mountains. The Eastern Band dislike the Oklahoma nation and consider them cowards because they didn't stay and fight. The Oklahoma Cherokee dislike the other existing tribes because they didn't go on the Trail of Tears. The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama consists of those Cherokee who escaped the Trail of Tears and who hid their identity to keep from being killed or imprisoned.
Looking back on history, I believe that Elias Boudinot and the others made the best decision at the time. I also think that they truly did have the best intentions of the tribe in mind when they signed the treaty. If they didn't sign the treaty, the troops would have most likely have taken all of the land without their permission and not bothered to relocate them.
During the slave trade, many Native Americans were sold as slaves. One of the slave ships crashed at sea and so there is a small population of Cherokee in the Bahamas and on a few other islands. This is a sad irony, because the rich Cherokee owned many slaves.