Western or Old Settler Cherokees v. United States

The plaintiffs herein are the Western or Old Settler Cherokees referred to in section 1 of the Jurisdictional Act, and are those Cherokees or their successors who were parties to the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation of Indians of the date of August 6, 1846 (9 Stat. 871), and as identified in Article IY thereof.

Prior to 1817 the Cherokee Indians lived east of the Mississippi River where they had occupied and had possession of a large domain for a period long antedating the coming of the White Man to America. By the Treaty of 1817 (7 Stat. 156), and by the Treaty of 1819…