[2][5] The Cherokee Nation first established a republican form of government in 1820, while still occupying their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States.

[5] In addition to establishing its courts and council, the Nation built seminaries for both male and female students, as education was highly valued.

A courthouse was built in the 1840s, but most of the city's public buildings were destroyed during the American Civil War.

[6] The Cherokee Nation Courthouse stands in the center of Courthouse Square, bounded by East Delaware Street, South Water Avenue, East Keetoowah Street, and South Muskogee Avenue.

It is a two-story masonry building with neoclassical Italianate style, built out of red brick and white-painted wooden trim.