To the editor:
I am the elected President of Delaware Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe. Delaware Nation is a successor in interest to the historical Delaware Nation, which signed the Treaty of Fort Pitt on September 17, 1778—the very first treaty between the United States and an Indian tribe. In the last Article of the treaty, the United States recognizes Delaware Nation’s sovereignty and promised us a delegate in Congress.
The history of the Fort Pitt Treaty is important in understanding why our tribal leaders demanded a delegate to Congress and why the United States agreed to our demand. In the autumn of 1778, the United States dispatched a treaty commission to negotiate the first treaty with the leaders of Delaware Nation. The newly independent United States desperately needed Indian allies to help fight British troops and to safely move troops through Delaware Nation territory.
At the time, the British controlled several key ports and forts around Delaware Nation territory. In addition to safe passage, the Delaware Nation gave the continental army corn, meat, horses, and other support for the war effort. We also provided warriors to the United States to assist it in its struggle for independence.
All of this is documented in the treaty, which also confirmed that our aid was of great importance to the peace and security of the United States. Indeed, for a key period of the Revolutionary War, the Delaware Nation was a vital power and ally to the United States. Without our assistance the war effort may have faltered.
Yet today Congress is planning to seat a delegate from another tribe, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. That tribe relies on a treaty promise from 1835, more than five decades after the United States promised the Delaware Nation a Congressional delegate. Delaware Nation cannot support seating Cherokee Nation’s delegate, unless Congress seats our Delaware delegate first.
The House Rules Committee recently held an informational hearing on seating the Cherokee Nation delegate. The Committee failed to reach out to the Delaware Nation and denied our request to testify at the hearing.
The hearing resulted in numerous media stories about the Cherokee Nation delegate. Virtually all the stories have ignored the fact that the Delaware Nation has a much older and stronger treaty promise of a Congressional delegate.
Such stories have also promoted the mistaken idea that a Cherokee Nation delegate can somehow represent the interests of all Indian tribes. Today there are 574 federally recognized Indian tribes. Each tribe has a unique history, treaties, and needs.
The idea that another tribal delegate can represent Delaware Nation falsely assumes that all tribes are the same. We are not. Delaware Nation does not want a delegate from another tribe making decisions about us. A Cherokee Nation delegate does not have intimate knowledge of our culture, history, or needs. We believe other tribes feel the same.
The Cherokee Nation’s alleged right to a delegate has been described as “unique,” but nothing could be further from the truth. The Cherokee treaties apply to all three successor Cherokee tribes: the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.
Other tribes, including ours, have Congressional delegate treaty promises that are almost identical to the one relied on by the Cherokee Nation. To seat Cherokee Nation’s delegate before seating the other Cherokee tribes’ delegates would violate the treaty promises made to all Cherokee people. Further, seating the Cherokee Nation delegate before our Delaware delegate would violate the promise made to us in the Treaty of Fort Pitt, 57 years before the treaty the Cherokee Nation relies on.
Congress should seat our Delaware delegate before any Cherokee delegate is seated. If the United States Congress wants to stand up for treaties, the first one would be a good place to start.
Deborah Dotson
President, Delaware Nation