Cherokee Government

The first building is the Council House, which held the legislative branch of the Cherokee Nation. The National Council (thirty-two members) occupied the bottom floor, while the National Committee (thirteen members) took the top. They functioned mostly like the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. Bills had to pass both houses to be made into law. The Cherokee people elected all the council members, and the councils in turn elected the Executive Branch, namely the Principal Chief, Vice-Principal Chief, and the Treasurer.

All of the people in the pictures are at least half Cherokee except the one on the bottom right. Like in so many other cultures, the artists had the “White is Right” concept and painted the men a lighter hue. You’ll notice the one white dude is bloodlessly pale.

The second building is the Supreme Courthouse housing the judicial branch of the Cherokee government. It mostly heard civil cases since criminal cases were resolved in lower courts. Note – the Cherokee had no prison system. All convicted criminals were fined, whipped, or hanged. I think I prefer their system to housing and feeding useless people for decades.

When court was not in session, the building was used for church and school. That’s right – they managed to have government, religion, and schooling under the same roof without a hissy fit about who was influencing who. Of course, by that point the Cherokee were all Christian anyway. The last teacher they had before being forcibly marched West was a Presbyterian missionary named Sophia Sawyer.

George Lowery (Deputy-Principal Chief), John Ross (Principal Chief), and Major Ridge (Speaker of the Council)

David Vann (Committee Member), John Ridge (Clerk of the Council), and Joseph Vann (Committee Member)

BTW, if anybody wants a full-sized version of any pictures, e-mail me and let me know.