In 1879 Bushyhead was elected as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. He served from 1879 to 1887. During this period, in 1883 he vetoed a bill by the Cherokee Senate to exclude Cherokee Freedmen from sharing in the proceeds of additional compensation by the federal government for payment of the Cherokee Outlet. He reminded them of the terms of the 1866 treaty with the United States after the Civil War, by which Freedmen who remained in the Nation were to have full citizenship rights forever. The US authorized an additional $300,000 that year. The Cherokee National Council overrode Bushyhead's veto, setting up discrimination against the Freedmen that has haunted relations among tribal members into the 21st century. He also dealt with issues of railroad rights-of-way, land allotment under the Dawes Act, education, white intruders, tribal citizenship, and grazing rights.