Cherokee chief: Our ancestors were promised a delegate in the House. Treaties matter.

As we gather to celebrate the 70th Annual Cherokee National Holiday this week, we are mindful of the contributions our citizens have made to this great country, as well as the pain and sacrifice we’ve endured over the years from the hands of it. In 1835, the U.S. government and the Cherokee Nation signed the Treaty of New Echota. This agreement, forged between two sovereign nations, forced our ancestors to give up their homelands and move west on the Trail of Tears.

Thousands of lives were lost. Our nation was nearly destroyed. Today, this moment in history is remembered for the pain and injustice it wrought, and as an example of the ways that America has often failed to live up to its founding ideals.

What is not as well known, however, is the same treaty that led to the Trail of Tears also promised the Cherokee Nation the right to a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. Article 7 of the Treaty of New Echota is crystal clear — Cherokee Nation “shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.”

The Treaty of New Echota has no expiration date. The obligation to seat a Cherokee Nation delegate remains as binding today as it did in 1835.

Our ancestors agreed to this treaty. The Senate ratified it. President Andrew Jackson signed it into law. All that remains now is for Congress to address this long-standing injustice and finally seat the Cherokee Nation’s delegate.

Treaties matter. Just two years ago, in its landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma decision, the Supreme Court of the United States reminded us all of this principle, when it held that treaties made between the United States and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in the 19th century remain the law of the land today. As Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, “As a result, many of the arguments before us today follow a sadly familiar pattern. Yes, promises were made, but the price of keeping them has become too great, so now we should just cast a blind eye. We reject that thinking.”

One of my first acts as principal chief was to nominate Kim Teehee to serve as the tribe’s first-ever delegate. She was unanimously confirmed for the seat by the Council of the Cherokee Nation.

Teehee is widely respected in tribal communities across the country and among Washington, D.C., policymakers. As President Barack Obama’s first-ever senior policy adviser for Native American Affairs on the White House Domestic Policy Council, she worked with federal agencies to develop and implement policies focused on a wide breadth of issues for Indian Country. Teehee guided the administration’s support for the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and spearheaded the effort in the 2013 Violence Against Women Act to hold all perpetrators of domestic violence accountable for their crimes against Native American women, closing a jurisdictional gap in Indian Country. Teehee also played a key role in the White House’s Tribal Nations Conferences.

In Congress, she will be a powerful voice representing the Cherokee Nation government and all sovereign tribal nations to deliver results for Indigenous peoples across the United States.

In order for her to have that opportunity, the House must take action to seat the delegate we were promised. With time running out before the end of this Congress, Cherokee Nation citizens should make our voices heard by calling, writing or emailing our elected representatives and let them know that the time has come for Congress to live up to its obligation to seat a Cherokee Nation delegate.

Doing so will be much more than a symbolic gesture of atonement. It will make a tangible difference in the lives of Cherokees and all Native people by ensuring we have a seat at the table as important laws and policies are crafted. That’s why tribes and tribal organizations across the country are backing this important effort. By fundamentally altering the relationship between the U.S. government and Native Americans for the better, and seating a delegate from the Cherokee Nation, we can create a better future ― economically, culturally and politically ― for all of us.

The time has come. Congress must fulfill the promise now that was made to our ancestors years ago.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. is principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, the country's largest tribal government representing more than 430,000 citizens living in all 50 states.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Cherokee ancestors were promised a delegate in House. Treaties matter.