When Words Mean Things: US Code 7 Stat 18

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By Line: Fort Smith, Arkansas

December 5, 2025, 9:00 AM

Do words still have meaning?  The “Canons of Construction” are used by the United States Supreme Court for interpreting the meaning of the text of the Statutes and Codes of the United States. Recently, Chief Jimmie W. Kersh said, “When I was in college and seminary, they taught us to interpret the Bible using the Historical–Grammatical Method so that we would know what the text meant.”  After researching, the Historical–Grammatical Method of Interpretation is virtually identical to the Canons of Construction used by the Supreme Court to interpret the meaning of law texts.

In support of its claims to be a Federally Recognized Tribe, which the Secretary of the Interior has failed to place on the list, the Chiefs refer to the text of US Code 7 Stat 18, a 1785 Treaty.

The following language appears in the preamble to the Treaty: “The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States, in Congress assembled, give peace to all the Cherokees, and receive them into the favor and protection of the United States of America, on the following conditions:” For analysis, the critical phrase is “to all the Cherokees.”  The following phrase is analyzed in Article 3.

The following language appears in Article 3 of the Treaty: “The said Indians for themselves and their respective tribes and towns do acknowledge all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever.”  For the purpose of analysis, the important phrase is, “their respective tribes and towns do acknowledge all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the United States of America.”  The following phrase for analysis appears in Article 10.

The following language appears in Article 10 of the Treaty: “any of the tribes or towns of the Cherokees.”  It is now time to interpret these three phrases with the Canons of Construction and the Historical–Grammatical Method.

First, the text must be read in its most logical meaning based on the text.  The text of the preamble says, “all the Cherokees,” Article 3 says, “The said Indians for themselves and their respective tribes and towns do acknowledge all the Cherokees,” and Article 10 says, “any of the tribes or towns of the Cherokees.”  We must ask, “What is the Treaty saying?”

The analysis of the three phrases together is that there are: 1.) Numerous Cherokee; 2.) the Indians of various Tribes and Towns acknowledge all the Cherokee; 3.) any of the Tribes or Towns of the Cherokee.  It can be determined by the text that there are numerous groups of Cherokee that live in Tribes or Towns.

The Historical Method of Interpretation provides us with a better grasp of the use of the word “TOWNS.”  Historically, the different groups of “Cherokee” lived in numerous “Towns” as identified in the Colonial Records of South Carolina.  They are identified initially as the Lower Towns, Middle Towns, Valley Towns, Upper Towns, and Out Towns.  The Over the Hills were added when they moved into the Southeast Woodlands in the late 1670s – 1710.  Each of the Towns had numerous Tribes or Villages, each with its own Chief and governmental system.

The Grammatical Method of Interpretation looks at sentence construction to determine the meaning of each phrase of each sentence, and then analyzes the complete sentence as a whole.  The preamble says, “The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States, in Congress assembled, give peace to all the Cherokees, and receive them into the favor and protection of the United States of America, on the following conditions:” First the Commissioners of the Congress assembled, gives peace to all the Cherokee.  Grammatically, “all the Cherokee” means that there are numerous Cherokee.  The use of the singular form of “Cherokee” and not the plural form “Cherokees” provides grammatical clues as to the exact meaning of the language of the text, especially when combined with the other uses of Cherokee in Article 3 and Article 10.

Grammatically, the singular use here, when using textural clues from Articles 3 and 10 provides the reader with the necessary clues to interpret the preamble use of the phrase, “all the Cherokee.”  It is required from the interpretation models of the Historical, Grammatical, and Canons of Construction to mean the “Cherokee gathered from the various Tribes and Towns.”

Second, the phrase, “The said Indians for themselves and their respective tribes and towns do acknowledge all the Cherokees,” has three phrases that must be analyzed.  First, “the said Indians for themselves,” can either mean, “Indians who are not Cherokee or who are Cherokee.”  When considered in context with the remaining sentence and the contextual clues from the preamble and Article 10, the meaning becomes clear: “the Indians are Cherokee.”   The remaining two phrases are obvious; first, “their respective Tribes and Towns,” and “all the Cherokees,” provide the analysis needed to determine the meaning of the phrase.  “The Indians (Cherokee) for themselves and their respective Tribes and Towns do acknowledge all the Cherokees.”  

The interpretation, using the Canons of Construction along with the Historical-Grammatical Method, provides a clear understanding: The Cherokee and their respective tribes and towns acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States.  

Third, Article 10 is the most straightforward of the three phrases.  “Any of the tribes or towns of the Cherokees,” prescribes the meaning of the text to be, “the Tribes or Towns of the Cherokees.”

All of this circles back to the meaning of 7 Stat 18.  There are six different sets of Town of the Cherokee according to the Colonial Records of South Carolina, which are part of the National Archives of the United States.  In those six sets of Towns, there are numerous Tribes, each with its own Chief and government.  This is brought into sharp focus when examining the signatory page where many of the signatories sign their name and the names of their Tribes and Towns.

The Lower Town Cherokee (Chickamauga) are identified by President George Washington in November of 1792 in his 4th Annual Address to Congress as living at the Five Towns on the Tennessee River.  These towns are collectively known as the Lower Towns.

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