The Cherokee Nation West are Native Americans who identify themselves as Western Cherokee, identified with the mountainous areas of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, they lived west of the Mississippi before the Trail of Tears, and did not migrate to Indian Territory after the Treaty of 1828. The Cherokee West are not a single group but instead are a coalition of groups with various historical backgrounds in Arkansas, southern Missouri, Eastern Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, and identiy as a community with a singular identity. They are a single nation unified by their identity as Western Cherokee, and in their shared government, and recognized by the United States as the Cherokee Nation West under the Treaties os 1817 & 1819 which created their independent nation. The Cherokee Nation West never ratified or recognized the Treaty of 1828, which attempted to remove the Cherokee Nation West lands. The Western Cherokee delegation who signed that document, which was sent for approval to the United States Congress by President Adams before it was ratified by the Cherokee Nation West Full Council, informed the United States verbally and in writing that the treaty was not valid until is was signed by the Full Council in Arkansas. The Western Cherokee were not bound by the Treaty of 1828 since it had not been approved or ratified by the Full Cherokee Nation West Council. At that time there were at least 15,000 people in Cherokee Nation West.
By Dr. Timothy Jones
.