Perhaps the first question we must ask is "Why have a Cherokee Nation?" For me, the simple answer is that the Cherokee Nation and its history and culture is a legacy that enriches our lives, family and community. It gives us strength in times of challenge, it gives us comfort when we are weak, and it gives us a sense of identity and value. It sustains us and gives us direction. It outlines our "designed purpose."

A legacy is often defined as a gift from our ancestors - our parents, grandparents our ancestors all the way back to time immemorial. We as citizens of the Cherokee Nation have received a legacy that has cost thousands of lives, millions of acres of land and untold and immeasurable grief, suffering, turmoil and tribulations. That legacy, that we are a people who face adversity, survive, adapt, prosper and excel.

We see that legacy in the many episodes of our history. In the 1730's, we lost half of our population to small pox because of commercial trade with England. In the 1770's, we faced the genocidal wars of Great Britain and the United States designed to wipe us from the face of this continent.

In the 1830s, we faced the political and legal battles to save our homeland and existence. That episode resulted in the Trail of Tears on which we lost 4,000 of our 16,000 people by the 850 mile death march from Tennessee to Indian Territory in the middle of winter in 1838 through 1839. We faced that those adversities, survived, and adapted. After the Trail of Tears, we built a sophisticated government to serve our needs. We were a people who believed in the law. We first adopted an Act of Union and Constitution in 1839. In 1844, we built our Supreme Court Building, the first public building in Indian Territory. We went on to build a National Capitol Building, Prison, and nine district courthouses. We valued education and build the first institution of higher education for women west of the Mississippi River in 1849, the Female Seminary. We built the male seminary and went on to build 150 day schools through the Cherokee Nation. We were 90% literate in our own language.

Then came the American Civil War. Two thirds of our people fought for the North and one-third for the South. We lost over 900 men and the war resulted in 4,000 widows and orphans and greater human and property loss than in the heart of the south. We recovered from that episode even when the United States enacted a retribution treaty against us. Then came the ugliest chapter in our relationship with the United States government: allotment. It was the design of the United States to terminate our government so that the Cherokee lands could be opened up for settlement. The common title of Cherokee lands was divided up to individual Cherokees in 1906. By 1920, the American policy to get to our lands was so successful that we had lost 90% of our land. No longer did we have the protection of common title to our lands. We came dependent on a "cash" economy.

A legacy carries with it a duty, burden, responsibility and obligation to carry on and give those gifts to our children and posterity. But far greater it is our honor to carry on this legacy.

One hundred years from now, our great grandchildren will judge our decisions today. Either they will enjoy an enriching cultural identity knowing our history, arts, culture language, traditions and wisdom, or they will pick up a dusty history book and find a footnote, "Once there was a great Cherokee Nation, but it is no more."

In the year 2001, we must decide whether to embrace this great legacy and pass it on with all the value ascribed to it. Or, by default we could allow this legacy to lapse.

THE FUTURE OF THE CHEROKEE NATION

The Vision, Mission and Principles to Lead the Cherokee Nation for the Next Century

"I have always believed that the Great Creator had a great design for my people, the Cherokees. I have been taught that from my childhood up and now in my mature manhood I recognize it as a great truth. Our forces have been dissipated by the external forces, perhaps it has been just a training, but we must now get together as a race and render our contribution to mankind. We are endowed with intelligence, we are industrious, we are loyal, and we are spiritual but we are overlooking the particular Cherokee mission on earth, for no man nor race is endowed with these qualifications without a designed purpose."

Redbird Smith, 1918

This Declaration is to provide a clear understanding as to where the Cherokee Nation should go in the next 100 years and how to get there. To provide that clarity, we offer a series of statements and steps that go from broad and general to more narrow and specific.

•	First, is the Vision of the Cherokee Nation. What will the Cherokee Nation look like in the future?
•	Second, is the Mission Statement, which gives the primary reason for being and our distinct abilities. How we will create value in the lives of our fellow citizens?
•	Third, is an Identity Statement. How will we define ourselves?
•	Fourth, are Desired Outcomes for the Cherokee Nation. What do we want to become?
•	Fifth, are the Guiding Principles. These principles guide us to follow the Cherokee cultural needs and values in our management system. They help direct every decision we make. We realize that in every situation we have choices and that we are a product of those choices. Some considerations for decisions are evident and clear, some are confuse and difficult. What will we use as guidance in making all of our decisions?
•	Sixth, are some of the Attributes we Value. These attributes describe the behaviors, practices, attitudes, and skills consistent with the Cherokee culture and values that must be integrated and leveraged. What do we hold valuable?
•	Seventh, are Goals and Objectives which give the specific, measurable targets for our management. Every division or unit of the Cherokee Nation must articulate their goals and objectives in a program book. What must we improve and what must we keep?

ATTRIBUTES

6. The ATTRIBUTES of Cherokee Nation employees largely drive the results of the Tribe. We can influence and shape the behaviors and thereby influence outcomes.

Respectful each other hold the existence of everyone sacred

Committed - Never quit, no end or finish

Cherokee Way of Life preserve, use, teach and learn the Cherokee language, history, arts, wisdom, music and heritage

Creative think and give birth to ideas

Integrity honest, straight-forward, up-front and fair

Leadership train, teach, and motivate others, be an example, show initiative, set direction, solve problems, make sound decisions

Communicate give and receive communication, ideas, criticism and information

Self-Confident with training and experience we feel confident that we can make good choices and implement them

Cooperative no territorialism, bend over backward to help others

Responsibility do what is right in all that you do, take ownership of actions

We should all strive to exhibit these Cherokee values. They are characteristics that we want to achieve individually and as a Tribe.