Drafted in 1999 and ratified in 2003 by popular vote, Cherokee Nation’s Constitution provides the framework for our tripartite government and tribal laws.

Preamble to the Cherokee Nation Constitution:

“We, the People of the Cherokee Nation, in order to preserve our sovereignty, enrich our culture, achieve and maintain a desirable measure of prosperity and the blessings of freedom, acknowledging with humility and gratitude the goodness, aid and guidance of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in permitting us to do so, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the government of the Cherokee Nation.”

The provisions of this Constitution overrule, supersede and repeal the provisions of the “Cherokee Nation Constitution” enacted September 6, 1839, and the provisions of the “Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma” enacted on June 26, 1976.