After being kicked off his own land...................Sequoyah came to DC to argue about Indian land..........note the date he came to DC from Oklahoma.........after being kicked out from where he lived.................in Alabama...............etc................1828...........things have yet to change..........

Life in Indian Territory[edit]

Sequoyah's cabin in 2004, near present-day Sallisaw, Oklahoma

After the Nation accepted his syllabary in 1825, Sequoyah traveled to the Cherokee lands in the Arkansas Territory. There he set up a blacksmith shop and a salt works. He continued to teach the syllabary to anyone who wished.

In 1828, Sequoyah journeyed to Washington, D.C., as part of a delegation to negotiate a treaty for land in the planned Indian Territory. While in Washington, D.C., he sat for a formal portrait painted by Charles Bird King (see image at the top of this article). He holds a copy of the syllabary in his left hand and is smoking a long-stemmed pipe. During his trip, he met representatives of other Native American tribes. Inspired by these meetings, he decided to create a syllabary for universal use among Native American tribes. Sequoyah began to journey into areas of present-day Arizona and New Mexico, to meet with tribes there.

In 1829, Sequoyah moved to a location near the present city of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, where he built Sequoyah's Cabin that became his home for the rest of his life. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.^[20]