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Appearing on COMMUNITY CONNECTION, Pricipal Chief of Cherokee Nation Chuck Hoskin Jr said that it is time for the United States government to honor its promise and seat the Cherokee Nation’s delegate, Kim Teehee, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

Chief Hoskin reminded listeners that in 1835, the U.S. government and the Cherokee Nation signed the Treaty of New Echota, which forced Cherokees to give up their ancestral homelands and move west on the Trail of Tears.

 

Hoskin said that what many people don’t know is that this same treaty promised the Cherokee Nation the right to send a delegate to the U.S. Congress.

 

Article 7 of the Treaty of New Echota states that Cherokee Nation "shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same."

 

In August 2019, in one of his first major acts as the duly elected leader of the Cherokee Nation and as specified in the Cherokee Nation Constitution, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. nominated Kimberly Teehee to serve as the Cherokee Nation’s first Delegate to Congress. Kim currently serves as Director of Government Relations for Cherokee Nation and is widely respected in tribal communities across the country and among Washington, D.C policymakers.

 

The Treaty of New Echota has no expiration date.Hoskin saidn that it’s time for the U.S. government to fulfill its promise and uphold its legal obligation. Hoskin asks that you please contact your representatives and urge them to pass a resolution seating the Cherokee Nation delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.