February 27, 1826

__________________________________________________________

Professor Fitzgerald’s note: The Cherokee removal from Georgia of the late 1830s, known as the “trail of tears,” is perhaps the most notorious episode in US treatment of the Native peoples. Under President Andrew Jackson, thousands of Cherokees were rounded up by the army and sent west to Oklahoma, in the face of previous treaties that they would be able to keep their land.

This selection is from a letter from a prosperous Cherokee leader of mixed ancestry, who had considerable western education. It was written over a decade before the removal, and it gives some notion of the social divisions within the tribe in the face of the onrush of white settlers into the north Georgia region. There had been extensive contacts with Euro-Americans for well over a century, and members of the tribe clearly had amassed considerable familiarity with white culture and values.

Ridge begins, “The Cherokee Nation is bounded on the North by east Tennessee & North Carolina, east by Georgia, south by the Creek Nation & state of Alabama, & west by west Tennessee. The extreme length of the Nation must be upwards of 200 miles & extreme breadth about 150. At a rough conjecture, it has been supposed to contain about 10,000,000 of acres of land. It is divided into eight districts or Counties by a special act of the National Council, & their boundaries are distinctly designated and defined. A census of the Nation was taken last year (1825) by order of the Council to ascertain the amount of property and Taxable persons within the Nation. The correctness of this may be relied on, and the population proved to be 13,583 native citizens, 147 white men married in the Nation, 73 white women, and 1,277 African slaves, to which if we add 400 Cherokees who 'took reservations in North Carolina & who are not included in the census & who have since merged again among us, the Cherokee Nation will contain 15,480 inhabitants.' There is a scanty instance of African mixture with the Cherokee blood, but that of the white may be as 1 to 4, occasioned by intermarriages which has been increasing in proportion to the march of civilization. The above population is dispersed over the face of the Country on separate farms; villages, or a community, having a common enclosure to protect their hutches [cabins], have disappeared long since, & to my knowledge, there is but one of this character at Coosawattee, the inhabitants of which are gradually diminishing by emigration to the woods, where they prefer to clear the forest & govern their own individual plantations. In this view of their location, it really appears that they are farmers and herdsmen, which is their real character. It is true that there are distinctions now existing & increasingly so in the value of property possessed by individuals, but this only answers a good purpose, as a stimulus to those in the rear to equal their neighbors who have taken the lead. Their principal dependence for subsidence is on the production of their own farms. Indian corn is a staple production and is the most essential article of food in use. Wheat, rye & oats grow very well & some families have commenced to introduce them on their farms. Cotton is generally raised for domestic consumption and a few have grown it for market & have realized very good profits. I take pleasure to state, tho' cautiously, that there is not to my knowledge a solitary Cherokee to be found that depends upon the chase for subsistence and every head of a family has his house & farm. The hardest portion of manual labor is performed by the men, & the women occasionally lend a hand to the field, more by choice and necessity than any thing else. This is applicable to the poorer class, and I can do them the justice to say, they very contentedly perform the duties of the kitchen and that they are the most valuable portion of our Citizens. They sew, they weave, they spin, they cook our meals and act well the duties assigned them by Nature as mothers as far as they are able & improved. The African slaves are generally mostly held by Half breeds and full Indians of distinguished talents. In this class the principal value of property is retained and their farms are conducted in the same style with the southern white farmers of equal ability in point of property. Their houses are usually of hewed logs, with shingled roofs, there are also a few excellent Brick houses & frames. Their furniture is better than the exterior appearance of their houses would incline a stranger to suppose. They have their regular meals as the whites, Servants to attend them in their repasts, and the tables are usually covered with a clean cloth & furnished with the usual plates, knives & forks &c. Every family more or less possess hogs, Cattle & horses and a number have commenced to pay attention to the introduction of sheep, which are increasing very fast. The horse is in general use for purposes of riding, drawing the plough or wagon.

Domestic manufactures is still confined to women who were first prevailed to undertake it. These consist of white or striped homespun, coarse woolen Blankets & in many instances very valuable & comfortable, twilled & figured coverlets. Woolen & cotton Stockings are mostly manufactured for domestic use within the Nation. I can only say that these domestic cloths are preferred by us to those brought from the New England. Domestic plaids our people are most generally clothed with them, but calicoes, silks, cambricks, &c. Handkerchiefs & shawls &c. are introduced by Native merchants, who generally trade to Augusta in Georgia. The only trade carried on by the Cherokees with the adjoining States, is in hogs & horned Cattle. Skins formerly were sold in respectable quantities but that kind of trade is fast declining & getting less reputable. Cherokees on the Tennessee river have already commenced to trade in cotton & grow the article in large plantations and they have realized very handsome profit. All those who have it in their power, are making preparations to grow it for market & it will soon be the staple commodity of traffic for the Nation.

You will be able more fully to ascertain their state of improvement by giving the out lines of their Government. Having been honored with a seat in its National Councils, I have better acquaintance with this branch of your enquiry, than any other. All Indian Nations are either divided into tribes, distinguished by different names & these are subdivided into Towns. In each of these tribes or Towns are of course some men, prominent for valor, humanity & wisdom. The Assemblage of such men forms their Council fire. They are a standing body, & indefinitely so in number of warriors. They possess within themselves Legislation, judicial & Executive powers. The first law & most prominent law is against murder. This is to be revenged & by the tribe of the victim without trial, whilst the relatives of the offender are compelled to remain neuter by the law of the Nation. This kind of Government existed in our Nation. Their chiefs were numerous and their responsibility was a trifling. Lands then could be obtained of them at a price most convenient to the U. States as their commissioners with the assistance of their agent could always procure a majority for a Cession, & when this was done, all yielded to secure their shares for the trifling equivalent. At length the eyes of our Nation were opened to see their folly. Their existence was in danger & the Remedy was within themselves & this could only be affected in the amendment of their Government. Useless members were stricken off. A Treasurer was appointed & a National seat for their future Government was selected. In short, these Chiefs organized themselves into Standing body of Legislators who meet in October annually at New Town [New Echota], their seat of Government.

They are composed of two departments, the National Committee & the Representative Council. The former consist of 13 members including their President & have a Clerk to record their proceedings. They control & regulate their monied concerns: powers to inspect the Books of the Treasury, & acknowledge claims, power to Legislate & Negative the sets of the other Branch of the Legislative Council. The Representatives have also their Secretary, consist of 45 members including their Speaker. They have power to Legislate & Negative the proceedings of the Nat. committee fill their own vacancies & the vacancies in the Committee, to elect the two head chiefs, or their executive in conjunction with the National Committee. All laws of course are passed with the concurrences of these two departments & approved of by the head Chiefs. Their laws at present are written in the English Language and commence in the words, to wit. "Be it Resolved by the National Committee & Council" &c. and are signed by the speaker of the Representatives, the President of the Committee and when approved by the first head Chief & attested by the Clerks. These Branches of our Legislature are composed of men chosen from the eight districts heretofore mentioned in as satisfactory proportion as circumstances will allow. The Judiciary of our Nation is more perfect than the Legislature, having less obstacles to make it so than the latter. It is independent [and has the] Power to bring any Chief before it of any grade, to pass sentence & put it in execution. There is a Court of Justice in every district & its district Judge, who presides over two Districts. Every Court has a Jury and its district officers, Sheriff constables &c. to attend it. A plaintiff or defendant can object to any Jury to sit on his trial or suit & if reasonable, he is indulged by the laws of his Country. There is also a Supreme Court of the Nation held once annually at New Town when all appeals from the district Courts are finally decided. At this Court Costs are exacted, but the District Courts are not allowed the privilege. The Sheriffs, marshals and constable are allowed 8 percent for collecting Taxes and debts &c. We have as yet not prisons and Justice is quickly awarded. The thief as soon as convicted & sentence passed is tied to the first Tree & on the naked skin is impressed, his receipt, for release. We have not as yet many written laws, it being the policy of our Government to regulate itself to the capacity and state of improvement of our people. I will give you a sketch of a few of these laws.

1. Law to regulate our Citizens agreeable to the Intercourse laws of the U. States for the purpose of Securing peace on the frontiers.

2. A law prohibiting the introduction of Intoxicating liquors by the whites.

3. Regulating intermarriages with the whites, making it necessary for a white man to obtain license & be married by a Gospel minister or some authorized person.

4. Against Renting land & introducing white people without a special written permission of the Legislative Council. Penalty: Expulsion of the white people so introduced as intruders, a fine of $500 on the aggressor and one hundred stripes on the naked back.

5. Giving indefeasible title to Lands improved-houses &c.-to the Citizens with power to sell or transfer them among each other, but not to Citizens of the adjoining States.

6. Regulating Taxes and defining the duties of collectors.

7. Law, prohibiting the sale of any more Lands to the United States except it be done by the concurrences of the Nat. Committee & Council; Penalty: disgrace & death to the offender.

8. A law to protect the orphan & widow to the father's [and] husband's property after death.

9. Regulating the Salary of the two head Chiefs, District & circuit Judges, the pay of the members of the Legislative Council & their clerks during active service and officers of the Nation generally.

10. Regulating the Judicial Courts of the Nation, defining their Powers.

11. against stealing.

12. against murder.

13. Defining the power of the Chiefs and that only exercised in a body in their Legislative capacity at the times appointed by law, and in the recess to be on a level with private Citizens.

I am assured of the loyalty of our Citizens to their Government and their laws and are determined to secure these blessings to their descendants yet unborn as an inheritance.

Property belonging to the wife is not exclusively at the control & disposal of the husband, and in many respects she has exclusive & distinct control over her own, particularly among the less civilized & in fact in every class & grade of intelligence, the law is in favor of the females in this respect. Rules & customs in the transfer of property are adopted & respected from the adjoining states in the absence of any law to regulate this branch of our trade. Property descends from parents, equally to the children; if none, to the next relatives &c. But if a will is made, it is respected to the fullest extent & every person, possessed of property, is entitled to dispose of his or her property in this way.

Superstition is the portion of all uncivilized Nations and Idolatry is only engendered in the Brain of rudeness. The Cherokees in their most savage state never worshipped the work of their own hands--neither fire or water nor any one or portion of splendid fires that adorn heaven's Canopy above. They believed in a great first cause or Spirit of all Good & in a great being the author of all evil. These [were] at variance and at war with each other, but the good Spirit was supposed to be superior to the bad one. These immortal beings had on both sides numerous intelligent beings of analogous dispositions to their chieftains. They had a heaven, which consisted of a visible world to those who had undergone a change by death. This heaven was adorned with all the beauties which a savage imagination could conceive: An open forest, yet various, giving shade & fruit of every kind; Flowers of various hues & pleasant to the Smell; Game of all kinds in great abundance, enough of feasts & plenty of dances, & to crown the whole, the most beautiful women, prepared & adorned by the great Spirit, for every individual Indian that by wisdom, hospitality & Bravery was introduced to this happy & immortal region. The Bad place was the reverse of this & in the vicinity of the good place, where the wretched, compelled to live in hunger, hostility & darkness, could hear the rejoicings of the happy, without the possibility of reaching its shores.

Witches or wizards were in existence and pretended to possess Supernatural powers & intercourse with the Devil or bad Spirit. They were supposed capable of transforming themselves into the beasts of the forest & fowls of the air & take their nocturnal excursions in pursuit of human victims, particularly those suffering from disease, & it was often necessary for their friends to employ witch shooters to protect the sick from such visitors. Such characters were the dread of the Country, & many a time have I trembled at the croaking of a frog, hooting of an owl or guttural hoarseness of a Raven by night in my younger days. After the people began to be a little more courageous, these witches had a bad time of it. They were often on suspicion butchered or tomahawked by the enraged parents, relatives or friends of the deceased, particularly if the sickness was of short duration. The severity of revenge fell most principally on the grey hairs of aged persons of both sexes. To stop this evil, it was necessary to pass a law considering all slaughters of this kind in the light of murder, which has effected the desired remedy. There [are] yet among us who pretend to possess powers of milder character, Such as making rain, allaying a storm or whirlwinds, playing with thunder & foretelling future events with many other trifling conjurations not worth mentioning, but they are generally living monuments of fun to the young and grave Ridicule for the those in maturer years. There [are] about 8 churches, where the gospel is preached on sabbath days with in the Nation. They are missionary stations supported by moravians, Presbyterians, Baptists and methodists and each of these churches have a goodly number of pious & exemplary members and others, not professors, attend to preaching with respectable deportment. I am not able to say the precise number of actual christians, but they are respectable in point of number & character. And many a drunken, idle & good for nothing Indian has been converted from error & have become useful Citizens: Portions of Scripture & sacred hymns are translated and I have frequently heard with astonishment a Cherokee, unacquainted with the English take his text & preach, read his hymn & sing it, Joined by his audience, and pray to his heavenly father with great propriety & devotion. The influence of Religion on the life of the Indians is powerful & lasting. I have an uncle, who was given to all the vices of savagism in drunkenness, fornication and roguery & he is now tho' poorer in this world's goods but rich in goodness & makes his living by hard labor & is in every respect an honest praying christian.

In respect to marriage, we have no law regulating it & polygamy is still allowed to Native Cherokees. Increase of morality among the men, the same among the women & a respect for their characters & matrimonial happiness is fast consuming this last vestige of our ignorance. We attempted to pass a law regulating marriage, but as nearly all the members of our Legislature, tho' convinced of the propriety, had been married under the old existing ceremony, [and] were afraid it would reflect dishonor on them, it failed. Time will effect the desired change in this system & it is worthy of mention, even now, that the most respectable portion of our females prefer, tho' not required by law to be united in marriage attended by the solemnities of the Christian mode. Indians, tho' naturally highminded, are not addicted to as much revenge as they have been represented, and I can say this, much it is paid for them to endure an intended Insult but they are ready to forgive if they discover marks of repentance in the countenance of an enemy. In regard to Intemperance, we are still as a nation grossly degraded. We are however on the improve. Five years ago our best chiefs during their official labors would get drunk & continue so for two or three days. It is now not the case & any member who should thus depart from duty would now be expelled from the Council. Among the younger class, a large number are of fine habits, temperate & genteel in their deportment. The females aspire to gain the affection of such men & to the females we may always ascribe the honor of effecting the civilization of man. There are about 13 Schools established by missionaries in the Nation and may contain 250 students. They are entirely supported by the humane Societies in different parts of the U. States. The Nation has not as yet contributed to the support of these Schools. Besides this, some of our most respectable people have their children educated at the academies in the adjoining states. Two Cherokee females have recently completed their Education, at the expense of their father, at a celebrated female Academy in Salem, North Carolina. They are highly accomplished & in point of appearance & deportment; they would pass for the genteel & wellbred ladies in any Country.

I know of some others who are preparing for an admission in the same institution. I suppose that there are one third of our Citizens, that can read & write in the English Language. George Guess a Cherokee who is unacquainted with the English has invented 86 characters, in which the Cherokees read & write in their own Language and regularly correspond with their Arkansas friends. This mode of writing is most extensively adopted by our people particularly by those who are ignorant of the English Language. A National Academy of a high order is to be soon established by law at our seat of Government. The edifice will be of Brick & will be supported by the Nation. It is also in contemplation to establish an English & Cherokee printing press & a paper edited in both languages at our seat of Government. In our last Session, $1500 was appropriated to purchase the press and regulations adopted to carry the object into effect. We have also a Society organized called the "Moral & Literary Society of the Cherokee Nation." A library is attached to this Institution.

Provision has been made by our Delegation at this place, in a Treaty with John C. Calhoun, the Sec'y of War in 1819, to afford aid to education in our Nation, by Reserving twelve miles square of Land to be sold by the President & by him invested to draw interest & applied as he shall think proper. This tract has not been sold as yet, owing as I have understood in the unfavorable condition of the market at this time.

Having given a view of the present of civilization of the Cherokee Nation, it may not be amiss to relate the time & manner when it was first introduced. About the year 1795 Missionaries were sent by the United Abraham Or Moravians to the Cherokees & established a Station called Spring place in the center of Nation. At or about that time, Col. Silas Dinsmore was appointed by Genl. Washington as Agent of the Nation, who from the Indian Testimony itself labored indefatigably in Teaching the Cherokees the art of agriculture by distributing hoes & ploughs & giving to the women Spinning wheels, cards & Looms. It appears when this change of Hunter life to a civilized one was proposed by the Agent to the Chiefs in Council, that he was unanimously laughed at by the Council for attempting [to] introduce white peoples' habits among the Indians, who were created to pursue the chase. Not discouraged here, the Agent turned to Individuals & succeeded to gain some to pay their attention to his plan by way of experiment, which succeeded. An anecdote is related of a Chief who was heartily opposed to the Agent's view. He came to Col. Dinsmore & said, "I don't want you to recommend these things to my people. They may suit white people, but will do [nothing] for the Indians. I am now going to hunt & shall be gone six moons & when I return, I shall expect to hear nothing of your talks made in [my] absence to induce my people to take hold of your plan." But in his absence the Agent induced his wife & daughters to Spin & weave with so much assiduity as to make more cloth in value, than the Chief's Hunt of six months amounted to. He was astonished & came to the Agent with a smile, accusing him for making his wife & daughters better hunters than he & requested to be furnished a plough & went to work on his farm.

In the meantime, the Moravians opened their School for the Indians, cleared a farm, cultivated a garden & planted an orchard. The Venerable Rev. John Gambold & his amiable Lady were a standing monument of Industry, Goodness & friendship. As far as they had means, they converted the "Wilderness to blossom as the Rose." There the boys & girls were taught to read & write, & occasionally labor in the Garden & in the field. There they were first taught to sing & pray to their Creator, & here Gospel Worship was first Established. Never shall I forget father Gambold & mother Mrs. Gambold. By them the clouds of ignorance which surrounded me on all sides were dispersed. My heart received the rays of civilization & my intellect expanded & took a wider range. My superstition vanished & I began to reason correctly

"Curious to view the Kings of ancient days," "The mighty dead that live in endless praise".

I draw to a close. Solemn & gloomy is the thought that all the Indian nations who once occupied America are nearly Gone! Powerful in War & Sage in peace, the Chiefs now sleep with their heroic deeds silent, in the bosom of the Earth! It was not their destiny to become great. Their Council fires could not be united into one, as the Seat of a great empire. It was for strangers to effect this, and necessity now compels the last Remnants to look to it for protection. It is true we Govern ourselves, but yet we live in fear. We are urged by these strangers to make room for their settlements & go farther west. Our National existence is suspended on the faith & honor of the U. States, alone. Their convenience may cut this asunder, & with a little faint struggle we may cease to be. All Nations have had their rises & their falls. This has been the case with us. Within the orbit the U. States move the States & within these we move in a little circle, dependent on the great center. We may live in this way fifty years & then we shall by Natural causes merge in & mingle with the U. States. Cherokee blood, if not destroyed, will wind its courses in beings of fair complexions, who will read that their ancestors became civilized under the frowns of misfortunes & causes of their enemies.”

Professor Fitzgerald’s note: as should be evident, many Cherokee were eager to adapt aspects of American culture, but they were not given the chance. The settlers wanted them out, and they were forced to leave.