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By the fifteenth article of the treaty of 1866 provision was made that, upon certain conditions, the United States should have the right to settle civilized Indians upon any unoccupied Cherokee territory east of 96° west longitude. The material conditions limiting this right were that terms of settlement should be agreed upon between the Cherokees and the Indians so desiring to settle, subject to the approval of the President of the United States; also that, in case the immigrants desired to abandon their tribal relations and become citizens of the Cherokee Nation, they should first pay into the Cherokee national fund a sum of money which should sustain the same proportion to that fund that the number of immigrant Indians should sustain to the whole Cherokee population. If, on the other hand, the immigrants should decide to preserve their tribal relations, laws, customs, and usages not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation, a tract of land was to be set apart for them by metes and bounds which should contain, if they so desired, a quantity equal to 160 acres for each soul. For this land they were to pay into the Cherokee national fund a sum to be agreed upon between themselves and the Cherokees, subject to the approval of the President, and also a sum bearing a ratio to the Cherokee national fund not greater than their numbers bore to the Cherokees. It was also stipulated that, if the Cherokees should refuse their assent to the location of any civilized tribe (in a tribal capacity) east of 96°, the President of the United States might, after a full hearing of the case, overrule their objections and permit the settlement to be made.

The Delawares were the first tribe to avail themselves of the benefits of the foregoing treaty provisions. Terms of agreement were entered into between them and the Cherokees, which were ratified by the President on the 11th of April, 1867. Under the conditions of this instrument the Delawares selected a tract of land equal to 160 acres for each member of their tribe who should remove to the Cherokee country. For this tract they agreed to and did pay one dollar per acre. They also paid their required proportional sum into the Cherokee national fund. The number of Delawares who elected to remove under this agreement was 985. The sums they were required to pay were: for land, $157,600; and as their proportion of the national fund, $121,834.65, the latter amount having been calculated on the basis of an existing Cherokee national fund of $1,678,000 and a population of 13,566.626

For a time after their removal the Delawares were much dissatisfied with what they characterized as the unequal operation of the Cherokee laws, and because much of the tract of land to which they were assigned was of an inferior character. At one time some two hundred of them left the Cherokee country, but after an absence of two years returned, since which a feeling of better contentment has prevailed. Following the Delawares, the Munsee or Christian Indians, a small fragmentary band who under the treaty of July 16, 1859, had become confederated with the Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan Creek, and Black River, residing in Kansas, perfected arrangements for their removal and assimilation with the Cherokees.

An agreement was entered into627 at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, having this end in view, and which was duly filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.628 The condition of this agreement was that, after the complete dissolution of their relations with the Chippewas, the Munsees should pay into the Cherokee national fund all moneys that should be found due them in pursuance of such separation. In the spring of 1868 an effort was made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under the authority of this same article of the treaty of 1866, to secure a tract of 900,000 acres for the location of the Navajoes. This tract, it was desired, should be so far east of 96° that sufficient room should be left between the Navajoes and that meridian to admit of the accommodation of a settlement of Cherokees thereon. This proposition, however, the Cherokees refused to entertain, asserting that the Navajoes were not civilized Indians within the meaning of the treaty of 1866.629

The next Indians to avail themselves of the privileges of Cherokee citizenship were the Shawnees. By the treaty of 1825630 a reserve had been granted them covering an area in the richest portion of what is now the State of Kansas 50 by 120 miles in extent. By a subsequent treaty in 1854,631 they ceded, in deference to the demands of encroaching civilization, all of this immense tract except 200,000 acres. Among those who so elected, the greater portion of this diminished reserve was divided into individual allotments of 200 acres each. Patents were issued to the head of each family for the quantity thus allotted to the members of his or her family, with the power of alienation, subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of the Interior might prescribe. In course of time alienation was made by these allottees of the greater portion of their land; the money thus received was squandered with the thriftless prodigality that characterizes barbarous or semi-civilized tribes the world over, and their impoverished condition was rendered still more uncomfortable by the seeming determination of the rapidly increasing white settlers to take possession of their few remaining lands. In this unfortunate condition of affairs they turned their eyes for relief toward the country of the Cherokees. Negotiations were entered into which resulted in the conclusion of an agreement, under date of June 7, 1869, and which received the approval of President Grant two days later. By the terms of this compact, the Shawnees then residing in Kansas, as well as their absentee brethren in the Indian Territory and elsewhere, who should enroll themselves and permanently remove within two years to the Cherokee country, upon unoccupied lands east of 96°, should be incorporated into, and ever after remain a part of the Cherokee Nation, with the same standing in every respect as native Cherokees. In consideration of these benefits the Shawnees agreed to transfer to the Cherokee national fund a permanent annuity of $5,000 held by them under previous treaties, in addition to the sum of $50,000 to be derived from the sale of the absentee Shawnee lands provided for by the resolution of Congress approved April 7, 1869.632 Under the provisions of this agreement, seven hundred and seventy Shawnees removed to and settled in the Cherokee country, as shown by the census roll filed633 with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.