Cherokee Indians Essay example -- essays research papers

The Removal of the Cherokees After England's acceptance of the terms of the peace made with France and Spain in 1763, in which France gave Louisiana to Spain, the grants formerly made to the six English colonies were considered good only to the Mississippi River. During the American Revolution and soon there after these former colonies were considered good only to the Mississippi River. During the American Revolution and soon thereafter these former colonies, now states of the Union ceded their unoccupied western lands to the government of the United States, thereby establishing the so-called public domain. Of these states, the last to cede its western lands was Georgia, which in 1802 surrendered all claim to land included in the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. This cession was made by what was known as the Georgia Compact. It also provided that the United States should at its own expense extinguish for the use of Georgia the Indian title to all lands within the state as soon as it could be done peace ably and upon reasonable terms. The purchase of Louisiana the following year placed the United States in possession of a large amount of territory It seemed reasonable, at least to the white man, that these Georgia Indians, mainly the Cherokees and Creeks, might be induced to move. One reason given by President Jefferson for this purchase was that it would make a suitable area for a new home for large tribes east of the Mississippi owning fertile lands needed for settlement by the whites. Years earlier some parties of Cherokees had crossed the Mississippi and had gone into what is now northwestern Arkansas because of the abundance of game in that region. Some of them had settled there more or less permanently, and from time to time others came out to join them. President Jefferson believed that others, or perhaps the entire tribe, might be induced to migrate to the West. The year following the treaty for the purchase of Louisiana he instructed officials of the United States government residing in the Cherokee Nation to approach the chiefs and head men of the tribe with the suggestion that the Cherokees exchange their lands in Georgia for others beyond the Mississippi. The officials reported to the President, however, that the Indians showed no sympathy with the proposal and had expressed themselves as determined to retain their lands and remain i... ...te shall be formed within the limits of another state without the consent of the latter as well as of Congress. It was asserted that the Cherokees had, in adopting a constitution, sought to form a new state within the limits of Georgia. The President promptly asked Congress to provide for an investigation of this purported Indian state and for "arresting its designs". The first Cherokee principal chief chosen under the terms of the new constitution was William Hicks, the brother of the beloved Chief Charles Hicks, who had authored the constatution but had died in January of 1827. William served but a short time, and in 1828 he was succeeded by John Ross who had been a protà ©gà © of Charles Hicks for several years. Ross was only one eighth Cherokee and the rest Scottish, but he had been born and reared among the Cherokees, to whom he was deeply devoted. Well educated, with a keep mind and rare ability as a statesman, he served almost continuously as principal chief until his death nearly forty years later. During all these years he wielded a powerful influence in the affairs of the tribe; his life story during this long period is virtually a history of the Cherokee people.