8. No license to trade in the Cherokee Nation shall be granted by the United States unless approved by the Cherokee national council, except in the districts mentioned in article 4.
9. The Cherokee Nation covenant and agree that slavery shall never hereafter exist in the nation. All freedmen, as well as all free colored persons resident in the nation at the outbreak of the rebellion and now resident therein or who shall return within six months and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees. Owners of emancipated slaves shall never receive any compensation therefor.
10. All Cherokees shall have the right to sell their farm produce, live stock, merchandise, or manufactures, and to ship and drive the same to market without restraint, subject to any tax now or hereafter levied by the United States on the quantity sold outside of the Indian Territory.
11. The Cherokee Nation grant a right of way 200 feet in width through their country to any company authorized by Congress to construct a railroad from north to south and from east to west through the Cherokee Nation. The officers, employés, and laborers of such company shall be protected in the discharge of their duties while building or operating said road through the nation and at all times shall be subject to the Indian intercourse laws.
12. The Cherokees agree to the organization of a general council, to be composed of delegates elected to represent all the tribes in the Indian Territory, and to be organized as follows:
I. A census shall be taken of each tribe in the Indian Territory.
II. The first general council shall consist of one member for each tribe, and an additional member for each one thousand population or fraction thereof over five hundred. Any tribe failing to elect such members of council shall be represented by its chief or chiefs and headmen in the above proportion. The council shall meet at such time and place as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs shall approve. No session shall exceed thirty days in any one year. The sessions shall be annual; special sessions may be called by the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion.
III. The council shall have power to legislate upon matters pertaining to intercourse and relations of the tribes and freedmen resident in Indian Territory; the arrest and extradition of criminals and offenders escaping from one tribe or community to another; the administration of justice between members of different tribes and persons other than Indians and members of said tribes or nations; and the common defense and safety. All laws enacted by the council shall take effect as therein provided, unless suspended by the President of the United States. No law shall be enacted inconsistent with the Constitution or laws of the United States or with existing treaty stipulations. The council shall not legislate upon matters other than above indicated, unless jurisdiction shall be enlarged by consent of the national council of each nation or tribe, with the assent of the President of the United States.
IV. Said council shall be presided over by such person as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.
V. The council shall elect a secretary, who shall receive from the United States an annual salary of $500. He shall transmit a certified copy of the council proceedings to the Secretary of the Interior and to each tribe or nation in the council.