Constitutional Cherokees

Did you know our ancestors gathered in what is now GA and wrote a Constitution in 1827?
Did you know that it was declared "Null and void" by our enemies?

Did you know it CLEARLY defined the boundaries of the tribe?
This defining of our lands was a kind of a "line in the sand" stance, because so little was left by that time.

Our Constitution was NOT coerced. It was drafted by our people in an effort to preserve our nation. However, the shrinking of our boundaries was coerced; the exclusion of Cherokee descendants was coerced. We are reversing that damage to our national identity and to generations of injured descendants.

However, some of the tenents held in it were in reaction to the persecution of our people. Certain statements would never have been issued but for the hostile climate in which our people found themselves.

The shrinking of the boundaries was NOT by choice but was through coercion and duress; it was through coercion to shrink our holdings and to ultimately abandon our possessions and identity invalidates any legal agreement obtained through such coercion and duress.

Coercion is is the practice of compelling a person or group or manipulating them to behave in an involuntary way (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. These are used as leverage, to force the victims to act in the desired way. Coercion may involve -- and in our history it did involve-- the actual infliction of physical pain/injury or psychological harm in order to enhance the credibility of a threat. The threat of further harm may then lead to the cooperation or obedience of the person being coerced.

Coercion is the reason so many went west. The irony of history is that resistors to this coercion were declared to be "NO LONGER CHEROKEE".

Coercion was used when the Cherokee Nation's own boundary lines were MOVED and yet the people who did NOT move were said to NOT be Cherokee because they "no longer" lived within the newly established boundaries!!

That would be like declaring the USA to be Iraq, saying the USA is in ASIA, and then saying everyone living in North America was no longer American because they had now moved outside of America!

Coercion is the reason for the shrinking of our numbers. Those who hid their heritage and actual identity were also coerced into doing so. Because they resisted an illegal operation of removal, they were declared to be "NO LONGER CHEROKEE".

We are standing up today to say that just because our enemies declared us NON Cherokees, that did not make us so.

We are STILL Cherokee!

Duress or coercion (as a term of jurisprudence) is a legal defense, one of four of the most important justification defenses, by which defendants argue that they should not be held liable because the actions that broke the law were only performed out of an immediate fear of injury. We are claiming this for all descendants of Cherokees who failed to remove to the west, and who were not included in the later rolls because they hid or registered their descendants elsewhere as white because of they feared repercussions.

Our Constitution was NOT coerced.

The shrinking of our lands and the ultimate removal of our people to the west of the Mississippi WAS coerced.
The necessity of our ancestors to hide their identity WAS coerced.
We claim the right to restore our right to our own constitution.
We claim the right to restore our lands.
We claim the right to restore the heritage of all descendants of all historically known Eastern Cherokee people.

Our lands encompassed nearly all or parts of what is today known as KY, VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, TN, WV, MS, and even OH and IN.
All of our original nation was east of the Mississippi.

Our ancestors remained here in the east, but VERY FEW remained in NC. Those who did were also Cherokee, and the Eastern Band was to preserve that. (See prior blogs for explanations of how they did not continue to recognize all of us).

BUT-- not all Cherokees were part of the Eastern Band group. Thousands were excluded from that tribe, even tho they were Cherokees, because they didn't live within the Qualla Boundary!

Several of our members have sought long in prayer to determine the name for us. Our people have been known by many names, and the name Tsalagi itself was not our nme for ourselves, but was given to us by others.
Because of our history, we elect to accept all historical titles for our people that are respectful to us. We have considered various names. We look back to the time when our people said, "This will be our land forever" and signed into being our own national Constitution. This took a great deal of courage.

Therefore the name that seems to be the most in favor for our name is "Constitutional Cherokee Nation" for the historic document that describes the boundaries of our homeland east of the Mississippi, and this is the name that was settled upon as the "official" title of our people. We may also be referred to and regarded as Constitutional Cherokees.

Second up in their consideration was to also call our group the Eastern Cherokee Nation, in honor of the people who stayed on this side of the Mississippi, hidden in communities across the southeast in MS, KY, TN, AL, GA, WVA, VA, NC & SC and other states.

A third suggestion was to call ourselves the Carolina Cherokees to recognize our historical roots and ties with the EBCI, but this was ultimately rejected as being too restrictive. Our people filled a vast land area and we were always present in more places than just the Carolinas.

As we become more formally united as an organization recognized by others, we may wish to consider which bests describes us.
This does not mean that our family groups scattered across the Eastern region of the US have been inactive all this time. No. We have ALWAYS been here. It just means that outsiders don't tend to realize who we really are even when we explain to them. This is a result of the mindwashing done by the persecuting forces that have sought to destroy us from the beginning of the invasion of our homeland.
We are working actively to change the perception of our presumed and well advertised demise.
Just because we have been silent behind the scenes does NOT mean we have not continually remained here. For years this oppressive occupation did not allow us a voice in the public. We kept our voice, whispered privately in homes and communities across our homeland. We are finding our voice in today's public forum and we are speaking up.

Therefore, for the time being, we are known as various names: Children of the EBCI, Eastern Cherokee, Constitutional Cherokee, Carolina Cherokees and others. All in all we are still the Aniyvwiya, the people of Keetoowah.