Learning Chickamauga History
In 1824 the Arkansas Chickamauga (the US called the Western Cherokee) adopted a constitution during the Grand Council at Horsehead Creek, Arkansas on the Arkansas River near Clarksville, Arkansas which were adapted from the Great Law of Peace, the laws of the culture and religion of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, and some of the laws of the Cherokee. The Constitution of Grand Council was announced in the Arkansas Gazette and some of the laws were published.
The 1824 Laws of the Chickamauga are close to the 1805 and 1808 laws of the Cherokee which they carried with them into Arkansas along with other laws they adapted to meet their cultural and physical needs in Arkansas.
This does not mean the Chickamauga are Cherokee, but their laws are similar because they are an adaptation from the Great Law of Peace and the Cherokee Laws of 1805 which are published in the Library of Congress.
You find the modern structures for The Chickamauga Nation government in the Great Law of Peace, some of the Laws of the Cherokee Nation (LCN), and the Chickamauga Constitution adopted in 1924 near Spadra, Arkansas at Horsehead Creek.
To better understand Cherokee laws, we suggest Rennard Strickland's Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Laws from Clan to Court. Published in 1975 by the University of Oklahoma Press in Norman, Oklahoma.
It pays to know your history.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.