Three treaties between the U.S. and Native Americans signed at the South Carolina plantation
The Treaties of Hopewell were the first formal agreements between the United States government and southern Native American nations, establishing tribal land boundaries.
Key Facts
- Treaties signed
- Three (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw)
- Negotiation duration
- 45 days days
- Location
- Hopewell plantation on the Keowee, South Carolina
- Plantation owner
- General Andrew Pickens
- Cherokee delegate provision
- Unfulfilled as of November 2024
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the American Revolutionary War, the United States sought to formalize relations with southern Native American nations, resolve boundary disputes, and establish legal frameworks governing settler expansion onto lands claimed by the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw peoples.
Over 45 days in the winter of 1785–86, representatives of the U.S. Congress met with Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw delegates at General Andrew Pickens's Hopewell plantation in South Carolina. Three nearly identical treaties were signed, defining boundaries between tribal and settler lands and addressing trade, prisoner exchange, and criminal jurisdiction.
Despite signing, none of the three tribes acknowledged U.S. sovereignty over their ancestral lands. The Cherokee treaty's unique provision for a tribal delegate to Congress was reaffirmed in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota but has never been fulfilled, remaining an outstanding U.S. obligation into the 21st century.
Political Outcome
Three treaties signed defining tribal land boundaries and regulating U.S.-Native American relations, though tribes did not concede U.S. sovereignty over their lands.
No formal legal framework governing U.S. relations with Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations
Formal treaties established boundary definitions and legal provisions, though tribal sovereignty remained contested