This Day in History December 29, 1835

At one time, New Echota was the Cherokee capital (from 1825-1830's), and it is now a historical landmark.  But on this date in 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed between a portion of the Cherokees (the Tree party) and the officials of Georgia.  Many Cherokees did not like this treaty.  John Ross was the main Cherokee chief, and he did not support this treaty.

Why was there no full support?  The Cherokee gave up their rights to lands east of the Mississippi.  The Trail of Tears had already occurred, and this treaty assured everyone that this had been all right.  In other words, there was no problem with removing Native Americans from their homes so white settlers could live there instead.  (Really nice, huh?)  Of course, President Andrew Jackson was the one who got all this going, and he was known for hating the Native Americans with a passion.  President Martin Van Buren continued to enforce this treaty.

For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_New_Echota
http://famousdaily.com/history/treaty-of-new-echota.html

This Day in History October 21, 1994

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2006_North_Korean_nuclear_test.svg#file

I would like to think that nuclear weapons threats are a thing of the past, but I have to admit that I am not entirely hopeful.  On this date in 1994, the U.S. and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework treaty.  The agreement called up on North Korea to stop construction of suspected covert nuclear weapons construction, and the U.S. agreed to supply fuel oil once North Korea built the nuclear reactors they planned on building to help meet the energy needs of the country.

So what do you think?  Did North Korea keep its end of the bargain? On October 16, 2002, North Korea admitted to continuing the development of nuclear weapons.  Unfortunately, I don't think this treaty did what it was intended to do.  But then again, are we really that surprised?

For more information, please check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreed_Framework

http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/agreedframework

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aankorea.htm

http://famousdaily.com/history/north-korea-stop-nuclear-weapons-program.html

This Day in History October 20, 1818

By Bourrichon - fr:Bourrichon [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I was unaware of this treaty although a Washingtonian  like me should have known about it!  On this date in 1818, the U.S. signed a treaty that allowed the U.S. to have everything in Oregon country below the 49th Parallel.  Canada/Britain had everything above that point.  And I suppose if this hadn't happened, maybe Washington wouldn't have been part of the U.S.  I'm so glad we are!

For more information, please check out:
http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/2011/10/20/october-20-in-history-treaty-of-1818-signed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_1818
http://famousdaily.com/history/oregon-country-us-british.html