The Cherokee Removal A Brief History with Documents

Combining documents that share viewpoints of the Cherokee and white citizens with those pertaining to government policy, Cherokee Removal present a multifaceted account of this complicated moment in American history.

Theda Perdue is professor of history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her publications include Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540–1865 (1979); Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Five Civilized Tribes (1980); Cherokee Editor (1983); Native Carolinians (1985); The Cherokees (1988); Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700–1835 (1998); Sifters: Native American Women's Lives (2001); The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast (2001); and "Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South (2003). Michael D. Green is professor of history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His publications include The Creeks: A Critical Bibliography (1979); The Politics of Indian Removal: Creek Government and Society in Crisis (1985); The Creeks: A Tribal History (1990); and The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast (2001).

Foreword

Preface

Illustrations

Part One

Introduction: The Cherokees and U.S. Indian Policy

The Cherokee People

Early Contact with British Colonists

The United States Civilization Program

Cherokee Culture Change

Pressure for Removal

Cherokee Resistance and Capitulation

Part Two

The Documents

1. 1. Cherokee Civilization

Becoming Civilized

1. Young Wolf, Last Will and Testament, 1814

2. Cherokee Committee, Ruling on Young Wolf’s Estate, 1824

A Cherokee View of Civilization

3. John Ridge, Letter to Albert Gallatin, February 27, 1826

Christian Missions

4. Elizabeth Taylor, Letter to Miss Abigail Parker, June 26, 1828

5. Sally M. Reece, Letter to Reverend Daniel Campbell, July 25, 1828

6. Nancy Reece, Letter to Reverend Fayette Shepherd, December 25, 1828

Quantifying Cherokee Civilization

7. The Census of 1835

Who is Indian?

8. Major Ridge (1771?-1839)

9. John Ross (1790-1866)

The Cherokee Constitution of 1827

10. Constitution of the Cherokee Nation, Formed by a Convention of Delegates from the Several Districts, at New Echota, July 1827

2. 2. Georgia Policy

The Georgia Laws

11. Georgia State Assembly, Laws Extending Jurisdiction over the Cherokees, December 19, 1829, and December 22, 1830

Georgia and the Supreme Court

12. United States Supreme Court, Worcester v. Georgia, March 1832

Dispossessing the Cherokees

13. Memorial of Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836

White Intruders

14. Zillah Haynie Brandon, Memoir, 1830–1838

3. 3. United States Policy

In Defense of the Cherokees: The William Penn Essays

15. William Penn [Jeremiah Evarts], A Brief View of the Present Relations between the Government and People of the United States and the Indians within Our National Limits, November 1829

American Women Organize against Removal

16. Catherine Beecher, Circular, Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the U. States, December 25, 1829

Lewis Cass Justifies Removal

17. Lewis Cass, Removal of the Indians, January 1830

Congress Acts

18. United States Congress, Indian Removal Act, May 28, 1830

Andrew Jackson Applauds the Removal Act

19. Andrew Jackson, State of the Union Address, December 6, 1830

4. 4. The Cherokee Debate

Women and Removal

20. Cherokee Women, Petition, May 2, 1817

21. Cherokee Women, Petition, June 30, 1818

22. Cherokee Women, Petition, October 17, 1821 [1831?]

Elias Boudinot’s Editorials in the Cherokee Phoenix

23. Elias Boudinot, Editorials in the Cherokee Phoenix, 1829, 1831

The Treaty of New Echota

24. Treaty with the Cherokees, 1835

The Opposition Continues

25. John Ross, Letter in Answer to Inquiries from a Friend, July 2, 1836

The Treaty Party’s Defense

26. Elias Boudinot, Letters and Other Papers Relating to Cherokee Affairs: Being a Reply to Sundry Publications by John Ross, 1837

5. 5. The Trail of Tears

Enrollment

27. Memorial of Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836

Forced Removal

28. Evan Jones, Letters, May–December 1838

Waiting to Cross the Mississippi

29. George Hicks, Letter from the Trail of Tears, January 13, 1839

The Aftermath

30. The Cherokee War, August 21, 1839

31. John Ridge, August 2, 1839

Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation

32. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Journal, 1841\

6. Remembering the Trail of Tears

Oral History

33. Rebecca Neugin, Recollections of Removal, 1932

34. Interview with Eliza Whitmire, 1936

Marking the Trail of Tears

35. Chief Vann House, 1954

36. Chief Vann House Historic Site

37. Vann House, Spring Place Georgia

Commemorating Removal

38. Will Chavez, Three Trail of Tears Survivors Honored at April 18 Ceremonies, April 24, 2015

APPENDIXES

Chronology of the Cherokee Removal (c. 1700–2007)

Questions for Consideration

Selected Bibliography

Index