During the first part of the nineteenth century, the American policy was to remove Indians from east of the Mississippi River and to “give” them reservations in Indian Territory. In their book The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears, Theda Perdue and Michael Green write:
“In one sense, removal was a continuation of the policies created by Europeans when they first came to America, took a piece of land, and pushed the Indians off it so they could use it for themselves.”
The Cherokees were farmers, living in permanent villages, and had settled the area many centuries prior to the European invasion. The Cherokee territory was spread over 40,000 square miles in present-day Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carolinas. Theda Perdue and Michael Green write:
“Much of the Indian-owned land in the South was extraordinarily fertile and capable of producing enormous crops of cotton.”
The primary argument in favor of Indian removal claimed that European Christian farmers could make more efficient use of the land than the Indian heathen hunters. This argument conveniently ignored the fact that Indians were efficient farmers and had been farming their land for many centuries. In his book Contrary Neighbors: Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory, historian David La Vere writes:
“It mattered little that the Southeastern Indians had long been successful agriculturalists; in the government’s eyes they were still ‘savages’ because they did not farm the ‘correct’ way, as women still controlled the fields and farming.”
In 1820, the Cherokees reorganized their government with a new standing legislature: a 13-member upper house and a 32-member lower house.
By 1824, some Cherokees had left Georgia to settle west of the Mississippi River. Some had settled in American territories, while others, desiring to be free of American control, settled in Mexican territories such as Texas and Coahuila. The Cherokees who remained in the Southern States faced continued pressure to abandon their homelands.
Two hundred years ago, in 1824, the Cherokee Council in Georgia sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. to talk with federal officials about their struggles with the state of Georgia.
The Cherokee Delegation
The Cherokee delegates included John Ross (1790-1866; Principal Cherokee Chief), George Lowry (Second Chief under John Ross), Elijah Hicks, and Major Ridge (1770-1839; Speaker of the Cherokee Council). Over and over, they told President James Monroe and other officials that the Cherokees would not cede any more land.
The Georgia Congressional delegation (Senators and Representatives) was outraged that the Cherokee delegation was received with the same courtesy extended to foreign delegates. In their speeches to Congress, the Georgians called the Cherokees “savages” and accused the Cherokees of having a ghost writer to write their letters for them. On the other hand, there were many people in Washington who were impressed by the Cherokee delegation. In her book The Trail of Tears Across Missouri, historian Joan Gilbert writes:
“Members of the Cherokee delegation won admirers in Washington with their dignity and their good manners.”
When the Cherokee delegation met with President James Monroe, they were informed that this was to be a social visit only; no business was to be discussed. In his book Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees, and the Trail of Tears, Brian Hicks reports:
“Monroe listened politely but showed little interest in anything the Cherokees had on their mind.”
In 1824, the administration of Indian affairs was part of the Department of War. Secretary of War John Calhoun insisted that the 1802 compact between the State of Georgia and the Federal government required the Cherokees to leave Georgia. Calhoun told the Cherokee delegation:
“You must be sensible that it will be impossible for you, to remain, for any length of time, in your present situation, as a distinct society, or nation, within the limits of Georgia, or any other state.”
In the1802, the state of Georgia had relinquished its claims to the land on which Mississippi and Alabama were created and in exchange, the United States promised Georgia that it would extinguish Indian title to land in Western Georgia. The Georgia Compact was signed by President Thomas Jefferson.
John Ross, however, pointed out that the Cherokee were not a party to the 1802 compact: they were neither consulted nor informed about it. He wrote:
“We beg leave to observe, and to remind you, that the Cherokees are not foreigners, but original inhabitants of America, and that they now inhabit and stand on soil of their own Territory, and that the limits of their Territory are defined by the Treaties which they have made with the Government of the United States.”
When the Cherokee delegation insisted that their annuity promised in the 1804 treaty had never been paid, President Monroe denied that such a treaty had ever been made. The Cherokees, however, produced a duplicate copy of the treaty signed by President Thomas Jefferson. After a search through the files of the War Department, the original treaty was found.
The Cherokee visit to Washington in 1824 accomplished little in terms of policy changes and Georgia continued to demand that the Cherokees be removed from their state.
More Cherokee histories
Indians 101: The Cherokee 200 Years Ago, 1819
Indians 101: The Cherokee Indians 200 years ago, 1821
Indians 101: Cherokee Treaty Claims
Indians 101: The Cherokee Prior to the Trail of Tears
Indians 101: The Cherokee After Removal
Indians 101: Preparing the Cherokee for Removal
Indians 101: The Cherokee Trail of Tears
American Indian Biography: John Rollin Ridge, Cherokee Writer
