![]() The Eastern Band experience identifies the vital interconnections between the control of tribal citizenship, the protection of tribal resources, and the preservation of tribal sovereignty. The federal government’s rejection of criteria established by the Band, however, threatened to destroy the tribe’s economic base and its political future. During the enrollment process, which culminated with the Baker Roll of 1924, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians developed citizenship criteria that could stand up to the scrutiny of federal officials. This effort became particularly important after the Band sold valuable land and timber and distributed the profits to tribal citizens. ![]() ![]() The Cherokees aimed to protect their resources from outsiders by limiting access to tribal citizenship. As the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians formalized its legal status in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, tribal citizenship evolved from a clan-based network of kin to a political identity with tangible economic rights. ![]()
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