{"id":11436,"date":"2021-05-12T15:22:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T19:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=11436"},"modified":"2021-05-12T15:24:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T19:24:00","slug":"cherokee-nation-constitution-approved-with-protections-for-freedmen-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/05\/12\/cherokee-nation-constitution-approved-with-protections-for-freedmen-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherokee Nation constitution approved with protections for Freedmen citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" data-attachment-id=\"8748\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/03\/08\/department-of-the-interior-kicks-off-tribal-consultation-sessions\/departmentoftheinterior\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/08\/departmentoftheinterior-scaled.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1920\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 6s Plus&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1474992350&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.15&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;25&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00055555555555556&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Department of the Interior\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Department of the Interior&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Department of the Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C. Photo by Indianz.Com &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/&quot;&gt;(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/08\/departmentoftheinterior-1024x768.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/08\/departmentoftheinterior-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"departmentoftheinterior\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8748\" \/>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C.Photo by Indianz.Com <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Secretary Haaland Approves New Constitution for Cherokee Nation, Guaranteeing Full Citizenship Rights for Cherokee Freedmen<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Wednesday, May 12, 2021<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Source: U.S. Department of the Interior<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><a href=https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/>doi.gov<\/a><\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<EM>The following is the text of a May 12, 2021, press release from the <a href=https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/>Department of the Interior<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. &#8212; Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today approved a new Constitution for the Cherokee Nation that explicitly ensures the protection of the political rights and citizenship of all Cherokee citizens, including the Cherokee Freedmen. Cherokee law directs that changes to their Constitution be approved by the Department of the Interior.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n&#8220;The Cherokee Nation\u2019s actions have brought this longstanding issue to a close and have importantly fulfilled their obligations to the Cherokee Freedmen,\u201d said Secretary Deb Haaland. \u201cToday\u2019s actions demonstrate that Tribal self-governance is the best path forward to resolving internal Tribal conflicts. We encourage other Tribes to take similar steps to meet their moral and legal obligations to the Freedmen.&#8221;\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Freedmen win landmark ruling confirming right to Cherokee Nation citizenship <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Oklahoma?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oklahoma<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/treaties?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#treaties<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/22XxyfQtDM\">https:\/\/t.co\/22XxyfQtDM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R7wUgu22Ze\">pic.twitter.com\/R7wUgu22Ze<\/a><\/p>&mdash; indianz.com (@indianz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/indianz\/status\/903064774673657856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 31, 2017<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nCitizenship rights of Freedmen \u2014 the former slaves of members of what have been termed the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole Nations) \u2014 have been the subject of various litigation efforts dating back to the Treaty of 1866.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nIn 1999, delegates of the Cherokee Nation held a constitutional convention to draft a new Constitution, replacing the one enacted on June 26, 1976. Although the 1999 Constitution was approved by the Nation in 2003, it was not submitted for Secretarial approval until March 12, 2021.\r\n<p><\/p><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nOn August 30, 2017, the <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2017\/08\/30\/freedmen-win-landmark-ruling-confirming.asp>federal district court in <em>Cherokee Nation v. Nash<\/em><\/a> ruled that the Treaty of 1866 gave Cherokee Freedmen a right to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation \u201cthat is coextensive with the rights of native Cherokees.\u201d \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nOn February 22, 2021, the <a href=https:\/\/anadisgoi.com\/index.php\/government-stories\/512-cherokee-nation-supreme-court-issues-decision-that-by-blood-reference-be-stricken-from-cherokee-nation-constitution>Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled that the opinion in <em>Nash<\/em> was binding<\/a> on the Cherokee Nation and unanimously held that the Treaty of 1866 placed limits on the Nation\u2019s government such that any calls to amend the Nation\u2019s constitution or pass other laws solely to deny Freedmen descendants the rights of Cherokee citizenship \u201cshall never be law.\u201d\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h4-responsive\">Related Stories<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/02\/24\/chuck-hoskin-the-cherokee-nation-must-honor-its-word\/\" title=\"Chuck Hoskin: The Cherokee Nation must honor its word\">Chuck Hoskin: The Cherokee Nation must honor its word<\/a> (February 24, 2021)","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Secretary Deb Haaland approved a new constitution for the Cherokee Nation that explicitly ensures the protection of the political rights and citizenship of all tribal citizens, including the Freedmen.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,13,1,14],"tags":[117,77,88,118,1213,72,47,220,154],"class_list":["post-11436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-trust","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-bia","tag-cherokee","tag-deb-haaland","tag-doi","tag-freedmen","tag-judiciary","tag-race","tag-sovereignty","tag-treaties","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/08\/departmentoftheinterior-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-2Ys","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}