In 1867 an agreement was signed between the Cherokee and Delawares that sent the Delawares to Cherokee lands in Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma.

The Delawares were a separate tribe who became a part of the Cherokee Nation for "general government purposes". They have not been officially seen as a separate group since they were sent from their homelands to live in Oklahoma in 1867.

They had been trying to regain recognition as a tribe with their own status and tribal recognition from the government since 1992.. The Department of the Interior has denied them that recognition, however the Supreme Court protects the recognized tribes under the Indian Tribe List Act of 1994.

The Delawares continued to fight for their recognition separate from the Cherokee Nation and in 1996 they were declared a recognized tribal entity entitled to all the rights and services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Oddly the Cherokee Nation followed with a lawsuit claiming the decision was illegal and broke the treaty of 1867, battling over a legality instead of cheering the acknowledgment of a tribe that had been assimilated into the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma under historical duress.

The lawsuit is peculiar considering the treatment and loss of so much native culture in the United States in the 1800's. The individuality of the original tribes should be encouraged and honoured in order to bring back the individual cultures that the government destroyed at the time. The Delawares were shifted and moved from their homelands, primarily in Kansas.
Source(s):
http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2004/11/03-5055a.htm

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