The Limits of Jacksonian Democracy: The Cherokee Removal
Overview: Andrew Jackson’s election to the presidency in 1828 symbolized the beginning of age of new opportunity for the common man. The first chief executive born in a log cabin, Jackson proved that almost any man could rise to the highest post in America. But opportunity for one group of Americans could damage the welfare of others, such as the Cherokees. This essay traces the course of Cherokee history from the ancient past to the removal of the tribe to Oklahoma. We see how the Cherokees adopted white customs early in the nineteenth century with the encouragement of the federal government, but were then removed from their tribal lands - despite their treaty rights. This event points to a problem in American history: assisting the ambitions of one group of people (in this case white pioneers) may reduce the freedom of another (in this case the Indians).
1. General Scott and the Cherokees: Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, Cherokees, "every possible kindness," large wood pens, domestic tasks, Georgia militiamen, "the cruelest work I ever knew," Cherokee removal, "Old Hickory."
2. Early History of the Cherokees: Water Beetle, buzzard, Upper World, Cherokee origins, Iroquoian, far-flung contacts, 1540, seven tribal clans, town chief, tribal council, Asga-Ya-Galun-lati, Little People," "Immortals," animate, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus, ceremonies, Hernando de Soto, Winding Stair Trail, "sedate and thoughtful," James Needham, Gabriel Arthur, Arthur's heart, Indian John, extensive trade, pelts, beeswax, bear oil, contacts with whites, changing Cherokee society, Eleazar Wiggam, James Adair, signs of white influence, log cabins, on war parties, Cherokee women, Cherokee cooking, Sir Alexander Cummings, Attakullakulla, "The Little Carpenter," England's allies, Jefferson and the great Ontassete, Capt. James Grant, Cherokee-English relations, John MacDonald, Anne Shorey, John Ross, Revolutionary War, Carolina cession, Treaty of Holsten (1791), Article 14, "a greater degree of civilization."
3. The Cherokee Renaissance: Indian agents, Benjamin Hawkins, Return Jonathan Meigs, Treaty of Holston, plows, hoes, axes, Christian missions, Samuel Austin Worcester, colonization, land cession, Cherokee West, "good hunting at the Arkansas," Creek War (1814), Battle of Horseshoe Bend, slaves, Joseph Vann, assimilation with white culture, Cherokee republic, "preserved many tribal customs," Sequoya, phonetic alphabet, Cherokee syllabary, National Council, New Echota, Cherokee Phoenix.
4. Removal Pressures: Andrew Jackson's understanding of whites desire for land, nationalist, Penobscot, "an interesting commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the race," "Indian nation within a nation," Georgia, voiding Cherokee laws, Indian removal, U.S. House of Representatives, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Daniel Webster, Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen, six-hour speech, "Like the horse-leech," "a few eance of duty on tea," Cherokee Legislative Council, Great Spirit, John Ross, Elias Boudinot, Worcester v. Georgia, Samuel Austin Worcester, John Marshall's decision, Harriet Gold, Anti-Indian sentiment, mission school, Major Ridge, John Ridge, removal party, Red Clay, Tennessee, Ross's recalcitrance, Georgia Guard, a prison cell, John Howard Payne, "Home Sweet Home," Treaty of New Echota, "the nightmare was a reality," "Trail of Tears,” four thousand, Tsali, animosity against the pro-removal Indians, ugly ironies, "freedom's hope and her consolation," Jacksonian America, "forever" meaning at most a decade or generation, Indian and white identity, ideal native society, legend of the Lost Cherokees, Christianized Indians.