The Cherokee Strip of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, was a disputed strip of land on the southern border of the state.

Description

In 1825 the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

was given a reservation in eastern

Indian territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

in what is now Kansas. In the Treaty of New Echota, May 23, 1836, the northern border of the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

's land was set as the southern border of the Osage lands. When Congress passed the Kansas–Nebraska Act on May 30, 1854, it set the southern border of the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

as the

37th parallel north Following are circles of latitude between the 35th parallel north and the 40th parallel north: 36th parallel north The 36th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 36 degree (angle), degrees true north, north of the Earth, Earth's equator ...

. It was thought at the time that the Osage northern border was also the 37th parallel. The

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

s immediately complained, saying that it was not the true boundary and that the border of Kansas should be moved north to accommodate the actual border of the Cherokee land. The situation languished during the troubles in Kansas leading up to the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. In the 1866 Cherokee Reconstruction treaty, the Cherokee agreed to cede, in trust to the

, such portion of their land that is in present-day Kansas. A commission was set up to survey the disputed land. The survey, approved December 11, 1871, found that the border was "off by 2.46 miles" (3.96 km). The strip in question ran from the Neosho River to the 100th meridian and amounted to . Under terms of Article 17 of the Treaty of 1866, the land was to be sold "at not less than $1.25 an acre" ($3.09/ha) for the first year and then offered for sale at local land offices. The first year were sold, and the balance of was turned over to land offices during the summer of 1879. As required, the proceeds were placed in the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

subject to order of the Cherokee national council.

References

Former regions and territories of the United States Native American history of Kansas Regions of Kansas History of the Osage Nation Cherokee Nation (1794–1907) Border irregularities of the United States {{Kansas-geo-stub