Cherokee Nation Case Study
How did many members of the Cherokee Nation, who originally lived in parts of what are now Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, end up living in Oklahoma? These sources allow you to further investigate this story of American Indian Removal.
The Cherokee Phoenix was the first Native American newspaper. It was printed in both Cherokee and English. The first issue was published on February 21, 1828, in the Cherokee town of New Echota.
Be the Historian
What does this Cherokee Phoenix newspaper article tell you?
- What is the subject of the article? (What is this article written about?)
- Is the author for or against the removal of the Cherokee people? Identify evidence for your answer. What arguments are used?
- What does it say about the Cherokee Nation that by 1828 they had published their own newspaper (the Cherokee Phoenix) in their own language and in English?
Cherokee Phoenix, March 4, 1829 (vol. 1, no. 51). Courtesy American Antiquarian Society.
TO THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE
The undersigned in behalf of a long meeting, composed of the Citizens of Turkey Town, take the liberty of addressing you through the public journal of our Nation, on the subject of emigration to the west, to which the United States have their attention.
Our ancestors settled in this place at a period not now in our recollection. Here was sacred ground, and on this spot the Council-fire blazed with lustre, and here were the dwellings and seats of Kings and our beloved Chief!
The Indians were represented as incapable of learning the arts of civilized life, and at the same time treated in most uncivil manner.
From correct information we have formed a bad opinion of the western country beyond the Mississippi. But if report was favorable to the fertility of the soil, if the running streams were as transparent as crystal, and silver fish abounded in their element in profusion we should still adhere to the purposes of spending the remnant of our lives on the soil that gave us birth and rendered deer from the nourishment we receive from its bosom.
TO THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE
We are the Citizens of Turkey Town. We gathered for a long meeting to discuss these issues, and we have signed this statement to show our support for the ideas we present here. We speak to you directly here in the newspaper of our Cherokee nation. We want to address the topic of your people leaving your current home and moving to the west. This United States wants you to make this move.
Our Cherokee ancestors settled in Turkey Town long ago, at a time so long ago that we cannot even remember it. This town has been blessed ground. On this spot our Council-fire burned brightly. Here is where our Kings and our beloved Chief lived and had their ruling places!
The Indians were considered unable to learn the ways of civilized life, and at the same time they were treated by white people in a most unreasonable and impolite manner.
We have received correct information about the western country beyond the Mississippi and from information we have formed a bad opinion of that land. But even if we were told that the soil was good for growing crops, if the streams were as clear as crystal, and if the streams were full of silver fish, we would still stick to our purpose, which is to spend the rest of our lives in the land where we were born, the land that gave us deer and feeds us as a mother feeds a child.
