ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cherokee Commission

The Cherokee Commission was a group of people who were responsible for dividing up land that belonged to the Cherokee people who lived in what is now Oklahoma. It was a way for the United States government to distribute land to white settlers who wanted to move west and settle in the area.

Think of it like a big cake that the government wanted to cut into pieces. The Cherokee people were like the bakers, and the settlers were like the hungry guests at a party. The Cherokee Commission was in charge of making sure that the cake was cut into equal pieces and everyone got their fair share.

But here's the thing: the Cherokee people didn't really want to give up their land. They had been living there for a long time, and it was their home. But the government said that they had to leave, and so the Cherokee Commission was sent in to make it happen.

The Commission was made up of people who were supposed to be fair and impartial - like judges in a courtroom. They would travel around the Cherokee lands, talking to people and trying to figure out who owned what. They would then divide up the land into smaller parcels that could be given to settlers.

But there was a lot of resistance from the Cherokee people. They didn't want their land taken away, and they didn't think it was fair that they had to give it up. Many of them refused to speak to the Commission, or gave them false information about who owned what land.

In the end, the Cherokee Commission was able to divide up a lot of the Cherokee land and give it to white settlers. But it was a difficult and contentious process, and it caused a lot of tension between the Cherokee people and the United States government.