The Cherokee people resisted and fought to keep control of their territory for the recently recognized Cherokee nation. By 1828, John Loss had assumed leadership of the country. Georgia's legislature deemed the Cherokee constitution invalid and proclaimed a state of armed occupation. In Worcester v. Georgia, the Cherokee petitioned the US Supreme Court for advice. (1832). According to the court, the Cherokee people were given security and safety under the law as a separate community, and Georgia had no control over their relocation. President Andrew Jackson, furious at the court's decision, funded the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which sought to forcibly remove the rebellious group. (Miles 221).The Cherokee women were in the forefront to protest the inhuman act from their own government. The women from Steubenville Ohio used the political right of petitioning to protest against the removal of Cherokee people. The abolitionist championed the people’s right and argued in favor of the Native American natural rights but their petitions remained ignored. Other leaders such as John Ross and Elias Boudinot sought to fight for the right of the Cherokee. The paper will analyze the similarities and differences between the Cherokee women and leaders such as John Ross in their protest against the removal.
Background
The Cherokee removal refers to the event as a place where they cried (Nu na dul ul tsun yi) or our removal (Tlo va sa). Cherokee removal as part of the Trial of Tears is the forceful relocation of the Cherokee Nation from their lands in Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina between years 1836 and 1839 (Perdue 19). President Monroe announced to congress that the Indians were to relocate after the discovery of gold in North West Georgia where Cherokee people lived. President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act in May 1830 (Perdue 14). Initially, the law allowed the right to negotiate their withdrawal from Mississippi River area and relocation was voluntary. The act ended the Indian Rights to live in their ancestral land. The Cherokee people were forced to assimilate and concede to leave their homeland and relocate to the Indian territories in the present day Oklahoma in the Western United States. Consequently, the removal caused approximately four thousand deaths among the Cherokee people.
Women’s Protest against Forceful Removal
The Cherokee women political role rested at least in part on their maternal biological role in procreation. Women in Cherokee nation occupied an important Cherokee’s matrilineal kingship system. The women took part and signed important land transaction until as late as 1785. The Beloved woman of Chota, Nancy Ward spoke during Hopewell treaty conference in South Carolina. Nancy Ward addressed the assembly to promote a peaceful land conflict resolution between the United States and the Cherokee people (Perdue 16). The organization of the Cherokee women by the year 1818 allowed women to air their voice. The traditional Cherokee towns were organized into small councils that allowed all adults to speak. In 1818, Cherokee women presented a collective position to the Cherokee governing body (Perdue 34). However, the women continued to lose their political powers to men and could no nothing during the removal.
Petitions
Cherokee women got support from other national women (20: Cherokee Women 125). Lydia Sigourney and Catharine Beecher organized a national petition drive that aimed at extending the female benevolence idea (Miles 222). A considerable number of women from Steubenville Ohio signed a petition for congress to analyze in 1830. The more than sixty women wanted the congress to reconsider President’s Jackson's order to relocate Native American communities from Mississippi region (Perdue 18). In the early nineteenth century, the native tribes including the Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Choctaw, and Cherokee nations resisted the white settlers from encroaching on their land in the south. President Jackson made Indian removal as the key agenda of his administration (Miles 238). Many lawmakers, on the other hand, sympathized with the native communities. The Christian advocates and the Christian press was not in support of the government's directive since the tribes had taken up Christianity and agriculture in response to the white culture and teachings.
The fight against the Native American relocation for the first time assembled American women nationally (26: Boudinot 151). The women were empowered by the republican motherhood ideology that stood for political voice of the women as parents, guardians of the moral code. Women wrote the memos and petitions as a humble request and pleaded with ‘the feeblest of the feeble’ tag to be heard. Women used this strategy pass the message that invading such lands was presumptions interferences. The congressmen and senators too treated women as people with generous deference and were not known beyond their country. The petitions were largely ignored as the congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1932 and enforcement began immediately. The women campaigns, therefore, were a failure. Many of the women involved in earlier petitions including Angelina Grimke and Harriet Beecher later focused on the abolitionist cause where they succeeded.
Political Activisms
John Ross, Elias Boudinot, Ridges, Elijah and Charles Hicks came together to form the ruling elite of the Cherokee Nation in early nineteenth century (25: Ross 145). Boudinot was the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix that published in Cherokee and in English. John Ross was the Capital Chief and most powerful man in Cherokee Nation (Perdue 19). Ross urged the Indian community to resist the government’s planned relocation and remain united. In the emergence of the Party, John Ridge played a leading role. Following the Justice Marshal ruling, Ridged felt that the court abandoned the Cherokee nation to face the inevitable fate. Ridge went to President Jackson asking the nation to spare the Indian rights and property. The president assured the people of their rights but should start moving in earnest. Ridge formed the Treaty Party to save the community from physical death (24: Treaty with Cherokees 138). Members of the party risked their lives and were marked for assassination. After a few years, John Ridge was ambushed and shot dead while Elias Boudinot was murdered using tomahawks and knives. John Ross was persistent and would not yield. The national party leader vehemently resisted the removal of the Indian community.
Petition
John Ross believed that the press and the treasury would not send the message abroad but could not be deprived the opportunity to send a delegation to Washington. The delegation was to present a memorandum and make the Indian grievances heard before the congress. Ross had fought Jackson’s regime during Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the Creek War. As the Principal Chief and service during the war were good leveraging platform for Ross to have an audience with the president. Ross and Jackson had the will, determination, and obsession when protecting the interest of the people and had a polite and dignified meeting at the white house. However, Ross could not match president’s Jackson’s resources and the president was smart in the political game. Ross demanded land compensation for the lost land and other losses sustained in after United Sates violated earlier treaties. President Jackson rejected the proposal but hoped the senate would consider any awards to the relocated Indians.
Similarities
The Cherokee women and the Cherokees elite group of leaders rose up against the undignified relocation of Indian community from Mississippi region (Miles 224). The abolitionist championed the people’s right and argued in favor of the Native American natural rights but their petitions remained ignored. Other leaders such as John Ross and Elias Boudinot sought to fight for the right of the Cherokee. The Cherokee women were in the forefront to protest the inhuman act from their own government. The group aimed at preserving of up to 8 million acres of land in Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina. They presented the petition to the congress and the president before enforcement of the Indian Removal Act. However, the petition was largely ignored by the Jackson’s regime and the congress.
Works Cited
Boudinot, Elias. “Letters and Other Papers relating to Cherokee Affairs: Being a Reply to Sundry Publications Authorized by John Ross. (1837). Print
Cherokee Women “Petition” (1817). Print
Miles, Tiya. ""circular Reasoning": Recentering Cherokee Women in the Antiremoval Campaigns." American Quarterly. 61.2 (2009): 221-243. Print.
Perdue, Theda. "Cherokee Women and the Trail of Tears." Journal of Women's History (print). (1989): 14-62. Print.
Ross, John. “Letter in Answer to Inquiries from a Friend”. (1836). Print
Treaty with Cherokees (1835). Print
