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On various pretexts, both white and colored men had from time to time established themselves among the Cherokees and taken up their residence as permanent citizens of the nation. The increase of their numbers at length became so formidable and their influence upon the national polity and legislation of the Cherokees so great as to excite the apprehension and jealousy of the latter.

The policy of their removal therefore became a subject of serious consideration with the national council. This involved a question as to what were the essential prerequisites of Cherokee citizenship, and who of the objectionable class were entitled, on any score, to the privileges of such citizenship, as well as who were mere naked intruders. Upon these points the national council assumed to exercise absolute control, and proceeded to enact laws for the removal of all persons, both white and colored, whom the council should declare not entitled to remain in the Cherokee country.677 The action of the council in this respect was communicated to the Indian Department in the fall of 1874, through the United States agent for that tribe, coupled with a demand for the removal by the military force of the United States of all who had thus been declared to be intruders. The Department not being fully satisfied of the justice of this demand, detailed an inspector to proceed to the Indian country and make a thorough investigation of the subject. His report678 revealed the fact that there were large numbers of people in that country who had been declared intruders by the national authorities, but who had presented to him strong ex parte evidence of their right to Cherokee citizenship, either by blood, by adoption, or under the terms of the 9th article of the treaty of 1866 defining the status of colored people. Affidavits in large numbers corroborative of the inspector's report continued to be filed in the Indian Department during the succeeding summer, from which it appeared that many persons belonging to each of the classes alluded to had applied to the courts or to the council of the nation for an affirmative ruling upon their claim to citizenship, but that in many instances such applications had been entirely ignored. In other cases, where the courts had actually affirmed the right of applicants, the council had arbitrarily and without notice placed their names upon the list of intruders and called upon the United States for their removal. In this situation of affairs the Indian Department advised679 the principal chief of the Cherokees that the Department would neither remove these alleged intruders nor permit their removal until the Cherokee council had devised a system of rules by which authority should be vested in the Cherokee courts to hear and determine all cases involving the citizenship of any person. These rules should be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to whom an appeal should also lie from any adverse decision of those courts. As there were a number of these intruders, however, who made no claim to the right of Cherokee citizenship, it was directed by the Interior Department, in the spring of 1877, that all who should not present prima facie evidence of such right should be summarily removed from the Territory. The main cause of difficulty, however, continuing unadjusted, the principal chief of the Cherokees asked the submission of the subject, from the Cherokee standpoint, to the Attorney-General of the United States for his opinion. This was done in the spring of 1879,680 by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs through the Secretary of the Interior, wherein the former, alleging that the question submitted by the Cherokee authorities did not fully meet the subject in dispute, and being desirous that a complete statement of the case should be presented to the Attorney-General, suggested three additional inquiries for the consideration of that officer. These inquiries were, first, Have the Cherokee national authorities such original right of sovereignty over their country and their people as to vest in them the exclusive jurisdiction of all questions of citizenship in that nation without reference to the paramount authority of the United States? Second, If not, do they derive any such power or right by the provisions of any of the treaties between the United States and the Cherokees? Third, Can they exclude from citizenship any of the Cherokees who did not remove under the provisions of the treaty of 1835 upon their removal to the Cherokee country as now defined by law? The reply681 of the Attorney-General was to the effect that it seemed quite plain in executing such treaties as those with the Cherokees, the United States were not bound to regard simply the Cherokee law and its construction by the council of that nation, but that any Department required to remove alleged intruders must determine for itself, under the general law of the land, the existence and extent of the exigency upon which such requisition was founded.

One class of these so-called intruders, as previously suggested, was composed of colored people who resided in the Cherokee country prior to the war, either as slaves or freemen, and their descendants.

The fourth article of the treaty of July 19, 1866, contained a provision setting apart a tract within the Cherokee country known as the Canadian district, for the settlement and occupancy of "all the Cherokees and freed persons who were formerly slaves of any Cherokee, and all free negroes not having been such slaves who resided in the Cherokee Nation prior to June 1, 1861, who may within two years elect not to reside northeast of the Arkansas River and southeast of Grand River."

The fifth article of the same treaty guaranteed to such persons as should determine to reside in the district thus set apart the right to select their own local officers, judges, etc., and to manage and control their local affairs in such manner as seemed most satisfactory to them not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation or of the United States. Again it was provided by the ninth article of the treaty that all freedmen who had been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion and were still residents therein or who should return within six months and their descendants, should have all the rights of native Cherokees.

Congressional legislation was sought in 1879, having in view the enforcement of this ninth article, but it failed of consummation.682 The Cherokee council, in the mean time had passed683 an act urging upon the United States the adoption of some measures calculated to reach a satisfactory adjustment of the status of the colored people within their jurisdiction, and requested the attendance of some properly authorized representative of the Government at their ensuing council for consultation as to the most satisfactory method of settling the vexed question. United States Indian Agent Tufts was accordingly instructed684 to attend the council, which he did. It resulted in the passage685 of an act by that body authorizing the principal chief to appoint a commission of three Cherokees to confer with the United States agent and draft articles of agreement, which should, after receiving the approval of the council and of Congress, be considered as permanently fixing the status of the colored people. The agent, however, soon discovered that no action looking to the full recognition of the rights to which they were entitled was likely to receive favorable consideration. It seems from his report686 that it was still very unpopular in the Cherokee Nation to advocate any measure conceding to the colored people the same rights enjoyed by the Cherokees themselves, and that until a radical revolution of public sentiment should take place among them it was useless to expect any favorable action from the national council. Agent Tufts concluded his report with a recommendation that a commission be appointed By the Interior Department and instructed to hold sessions in the Cherokee country, hear evidence, and determine the status of each disputed claimant to citizenship, subject to the final revision and approval of the Department. Inspector Ward and Special Agent Beede were, therefore, instructed687 to consult with Agent Tufts, and, after familiarizing themselves with the question in all its details, to visit the executive officers of the Cherokee Nation and see if some satisfactory solution of the troublesome problem could be brought about. This conference, like all previous efforts, failed of accomplishing the desired end. Thus the question still stands, and all those persons who have been able to make out a prima facie showing of Cherokee citizenship, under the ruling of the Department, are allowed to remain in the Territory unmolested.