British politician Rishi Sunak
Credit: ©ComposedPix/Shutterstock

Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2022, Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, has become the 57th prime minister of the United Kingdom. Sunak was the only candidate for the Conservative party following former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ resignation after only seven weeks in office. Sunak pushed for the removal of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson from office this past summer. Sunak made history as the first prime minister of color for the United Kingdom. As a son of Indian parents who moved to the United Kingdom from East Africa in the 1960’s, Sunak is also the first Hindu and first British Indian to serve in the role. At 42 years old, he is also the youngest person to become prime minister since 1812.

Sunak is tasked with cleaning up the British economy after the plan proposed by Truss sparked panic across the country. Sunak is experienced in finance as former Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Exchequer is a department in the Treasury of the United Kingdom. It collects, manages, and spends government funds. The department is controlled by the Treasury Board, which is composed of the prime minister (called the first lord of the treasury), the chancellor of the exchequer, and five junior lords. The chancellor is the minister of finance, and is always a Cabinet member. The chancellor prepares the annual budget. The budget contains proposed government expenditures and a program for raising money to meet these expenditures.

Britain is currently in a financial whirlwind after former Prime Minister Liz Truss reversed plans to cut taxes by 45 billion pounds, after the proposal upset lawmakers and caused the British pound to plummet. Sunak addressed the instability and proposed spending cuts to battle the highest inflation Britain has seen in 40 years.

After meeting with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, Sunak formally became Britain’s fifth prime minister in six years. He vowed to bring economic stability and confidence to the British government. Since Sunak became prime minister after the resignation, he did not detail his policy plans in campaigns. He secured the premier position without formally addressing his stance on the war in Ukraine, Britain’s relationship with the European Union after Brexit, immigration, or climate change.

October 19, 2018

On Oct. 19, 1818, 200 years ago today, the Chickasaw Indians signed a treaty with the United States government that opened Chickasaw lands in western Tennessee and Kentucky to white immigration. In exchange for the land, the U.S. government paid the Chickasaw $20,000 per year for 15 years and forgave certain debts owed by the tribe. The treaty came after years of government pressure and the threat that Chickasaw lands would be taken whether they signed a treaty or not. Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson, then a major general in the U.S. Army, negotiated the 1818 agreement with the Chickasaw, who had ceded other nearby lands to white settlement in 1805 and in 1816.

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The Chickasaw Nation seal. Credit: © Chickasaw Nation

Chickasaw territory originally included northern Mississippi, northwestern Alabama, and western Tennessee and Kentucky. The Chickasaw lived in villages of small, one-room log cabins. Each village was headed by a chief. The people supported themselves by farming, fishing, hunting, and trading with neighboring tribes. The Chickasaw were one of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes, a group that also included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Indians. White settlers gave the tribes this name in the 1800′s, after the tribes had adopted a number of European customs. Many settlers considered European ways more civilized than Indian ones.

The Chickasaw were also fierce warriors. In 1541, they drove off an expedition led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, and more than 200 years later, they helped Great Britain fight France and Spain for control of what is now the southeastern United States. Chickasaw warriors also fought for the British in the American Revolution (1775-1783) and for the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865).

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The Indian Territory was land set aside by the U.S. government for Indians from about 1825 to 1906. It covered most of present-day Oklahoma. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In the “Great Removal” of 1837, the U.S. government forced the Chickasaw from their remaining lands east of the Mississippi River to make room for additional white immigration. Thousands of Chickasaw died on the forced march to their new lands in the Indian Territory, a region west of the Mississippi that was temporarily set aside for the residence of Indians. In 1907, the Chickasaw and other Indian nations were forced into reservations when the Indian Territory became part of the new state of Oklahoma.

According to the 2010 census, there are about 28,000 Chickasaw today, most of whom live in Oklahoma. A tribal government elected by the Chickasaw helps provide for the nation’s general welfare.