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This general history of the Cherokee Nation and the treaty relations that had existed with the colonial authorities from the period of their first official contact with each other is given as preliminary to the consideration of the history and provisions of the first treaty negotiated between commissioners on the part of the United States and the said Cherokee Nation, viz, the treaty concluded at Hopewell, on the Keowee River, November 28, 1785, an abstract of the provisions of which is hereinbefore given.44

The conclusion of this treaty marked the beginning of a new era in the relations between the whites and Cherokees. The boundaries then fixed were the most favorable it was possible to obtain from the latter without regard to previous purchases and pretended purchases made by private individuals and others. Although the Indians yielded an extensive territory to the United States,45 yet, on the other hand, the latter conceded to the Cherokees a considerable extent of territory that had already been purchased from them by private individuals or associations, though by methods of more than doubtful legality.

The contentions between the border settlers of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as well as of the authorities of those States, with the Cherokees and Creeks, concerning boundaries and the constantly recurring mutual depredations and assaults upon each other's lives and property, prompted Congress, though still deriving its powers from the Articles of Confederation, to the active exercise of its treaty-making functions. It was, therefore, determined46 to appoint commissioners who should be empowered under their instructions, subject, of course, to ratification by Congress, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokees, at which the boundaries of the lands claimed by them should be as accurately ascertained as might be, and the line of division carefully marked between them and the white settlements. This was deemed essential in order that authoritative proclamation might be made of the same, advising and warning settlers against further encroachments upon Indian territory.