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LETTER FROM JOHN ROSS,
L0
THE
He*
PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE CHEROKEE NATION,
TO
A GENTLEMAN OF PHILADELPHIA.
LETTER FROM JOHN ROSS,
THE
PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE CHEROKEE NATION,
TO
A GENTLEMAN OF PHILADELPHIA.
f-M
REMARKS.
The following letter was received in Philadelphia, about the
period of its date, in May last. Its appearance was deferred,
in consequence of a desire to accompany it with a few observa-
tions upon the general subject of Indian annals in the United
States. The preparation of these has been so long delayed,
that further postponement would be inexcusable. It has, there-
fore, been determined to give publicity to the letter, reserving
its intended accompaniment for a future occasion, and a dif-
ferent medium.
The writer is sensible of the lameness of his apology for so
long withholding from the public, a production of so much
interest and merit; and seeks to lessen the blame he might incur
by expressing the hope, that it may induce a second communi-
cation from the author, detailing some events which have oc-
curred since its composition.
The temper of this epistle, will commend it to the kind con-
sideration of every calm and dispassionate mind, whilst its
facts and reasonings must carry conviction to all readers. It is
a skilful and comprehensive survey of the Cherokee question,
and unfolds in cool language, a course of conduct which makes
the patriotic cheek burn with shame, and the patriotic heart
glow with indignation. May its perusal produce the proper
effect in the proper quarter, and induce those elevated measures
which policy, humanity, and honour concur to recommend.
No achievement of national might is equal, in greatness, to the
performance of national justice, and without this, what is
called national honour, is not only an empty name, but a false
and ironical ascription.
Philadelphia, December 26, 1337.
LETTER.
Washington City, May 6th, 1837.
SIR,
I return you my sincere thanks for your Discourse on the
" Surviving Remnant of the Indian Race." We have found so
little sympathy among our white brethren that every instance
of its spontaneous exhibition touches us deeply.
On the present occasion there are many reasons why we
should be more than usually affected. Your vindication of
our case is as generous and unexpected as it is elegant and able.
The society of which you were the organ bears a name which
every Indian delights to honour. 1 William Penn is one of
those white men whose landing upon the shores of what was
then the Indian's country, brought only peace and comfort. His
influence was exerted in the cause of Christian benevolence and
philanthropy. Cruelty and rapacity never followed in his foot-
steps. The prosperity of the great commonwealth which he
founded, was not fostered by the blood nor tears of the nations of
the forest. We can fully appreciate the justice of the annual
commemoration, by your society, of an event affording to all
his race an example, which, had it been always followed, would
have saved them from the responsibility and the consequences
of many an act of oppression, of injustice, and of outrage, and
ourselves from the agony of many a heartache.
You have touched our case with a master's hand, and treated
the whole subject of Cherokee affairs with great ability and
intelligence. You have brought before your society a rapid
notice of our recent history up to the time of the last action of
congress upon our affairs. I wish you to be made acquainted
with what has since transpired, and to know what has been
done and is contemplated hereafter, with a view to spread before
1 The Society for Commemorating the Landing of William Penn.
2
the American people and their government a full knowledge of
our circumstances, for the purpose of awakening that interest in
our behalf upon which we yet rest our hopes of justice, and
of which we shall not to the last despair.
With the history of our nation up to the period above advert-
ed to, you are sufficiently informed to supersede the necessity
for more than a very rapid retrospect. The friendly intercourse
between the United States and the Cherokees, commenced at a
very early period of your national history. The treaty of
Hopewell, by which our nation was received into the favour
and protection of the United States, was dated in 1785. This
instrument fixed the boundary which was then agreed upon.
It will be remarked that the line which it indicates, was de-
signed merely as a demarcation between the parties to it, and is
consequently exclusively confined to the eastern limits of the
Cherokee nation. It begins at the mouth of the Duck river, in
what is now the state of Tennessee, and, running through por-
tions of both Carolinas and Georgia, terminates at the head of
the south fork of the Oconee, in the last named state. The
country which we then owned, comprehends what is now a fer-
tile and densely populated portion of the Union.
At a very early period after the organisation of your present
form of government, the illegal encroachments upon our lands,
and the outrages perpetrated upon our rights, attracted the
notice of President Washington. With a view to adjust all the
difficulties growing out of these fruitful sources of discord,
another treaty was negotiated in 1791, at Hoiston. A different
boundary was established, and the Cherokees placed themselves
under the protection of the United States. A reference to this
treaty will show that we had yielded to our neighbours a large
portion of our territory, but by the seventh article we obtained
the solemn guarantee of the United States to all our lands not
then ceded.
In the year 1798, a further treaty was concluded between the
parties, at Tellico, by which another large cession was made, and
again by the express provisions of the instrument, the remainder
of their country w T as for ever guaranteed to the Cherokees.
This was, however, soon followed by another treaty of cession
in 1804, two treaties in 1805, and early in ISOf), another. By
each of these treaties important and valuable districts were
ceded. A temporary suspension of these proceedings now oc-
curred, but in 1816 three several treaties were made, in 1817
another, and these were followed up by that of February 1819.
Each of these instruments contributed to narrow our limits
and to curtail our territory. A peace of permanent policy was
avowed, and the treaty of 1819 was regarded as a final mea-
sure. Such of the nation as were disposed to emigrate beyond
the Mississippi, and to retain their original hunter habits, were
provided for ; those who preferred remaining, and to pursue the
arts of civilisation, were to remain ; property which had been
held in common, was to be enjoyed in severalty ; the limits of
individual rights were to be fixed and permanent interests to be
held in land.
The Cherokees, who had already made considerable progress
in the pursuits of agriculture, &c, continued rapidly to advance
under this system. Education became more widely diffused, a
new alphabet invented by one of them, became the vehicle for
disseminating useful information in their own language. A
newspaper was established, a code of laws framed, and political
institutions, adapted to their circumstances, were organised.
With this change of manners their numbers increased, and
wealth began to accumulate. Such were some of the blessings
which the Cherokees had derived from their intercourse with
the whites. They were contented, prosperous, and happy, and
looked forward with confidence to an augumentation of all their
sources of prosperity. They realised, to a considerable extent,
the benefits which had been promised them. They had parted
with nineteen twentieths of their original possessions, but the
rest was secured to them by sanctions, guarantees, and pledges,
which professed to be sacred and inviolable.
These anticipations were however not to be wholly fulfilled.
Notwithstanding theunderstandingof all parties that the arrange-
ments of 1819 were to be permanent and final, that no further
cessions of territory were to be required or made, that we were
to be suffered to retain as private property, the comparatively
small remnant of our original territory which had not been dis-
posed of, it soon appeared that while one acre remained in our
hands it would be viewed with the eyes of cupidity. Although
one of the conditions upon which we had given so much was that
the residue should be guaranteed to us for ever, although the
treaty of 1819 was declared to be a final adjustment, although
the United States had stipulated to remove all intruders from
our lands, and to protect us against similar outrages in future,
yet none of these provisions in our favour have for years been
of any practical value.
In our memorial to the senate, in March, 1836, you will find
a summary statement of the wrongs under which we laboured.
We then stated that " the Cherokees were happy and prosper-
ous till the year 1828, when the United States entered into a
treaty with the Cherokees west of the Mississippi, in which,
though the Cherokee nation east was no party, or consulted,
certain stipulations were introduced affecting their interests.
From this date the agents of the United States commenced their
interference with the internal affairs of the Cherokee people. A
8
system was devised and prosecuted to force them to emigrate by
rendering them unhappy where they were."
In June, 1834, a paper, purporting to be an agreement, was
executed between John H. Eaton, a commissioner, on the part
of the United States, and Andrew Ross, Thomas J. Park, John
West, and James Starr. These individuals were members of
the Cherokee community, but were never authorised to act on
behalf of the nation, nor did they hold any appointment or office
which would carry with it a presumption that they had authority
so to act. Yet with these men an instrument purporting to be
a treaty, was signed. As soon as it came to the ears of the
nation, decisive steps were taken, a protest from about thirteen
thousand Cherokees was submitted to the government, disclaim-
ing the proceeding. It was submitted to the senate for ratifica-
tion as a treaty properly and duly negotiated, but in consequence
of the representations made to that honourable body, and the
evidence exhibited before it, it was rejected. Upon what
ground it could ever be claimed to be an authoritative national
act, is yet to be learned.
By direction of the President this repudiated instrument was,
in November, 1834, submitted to the general council of the na-
tion for its approval. It was, however, again most deliberately
and solemnly rejected.
During the ensuing winter a delegation from the nation was
at Washington for the purpose of arranging the existing diffi-
culties. Before terms were agreed upon, and shortly after the
conferences had begun, a few individuals of the nation, equally
without authority as those who had been before prevailed upon
to assume such powers, arrived in the city, and within a few
days the regularly appointed delegation was again passed by,
and new negotiations opened with these parties. On the 14th
of March, 1835, an instrument purporting to be a treaty was
signed by these parties and transmitted by the president to
the nation for its approval. Every effort was made to extort
this approbation. The annuities due to the nation were with-
held — the fears of some were excited by threats of personal vio-
lence, made by the United States agents, — others were arrested
by the military and placed in confinement, — their press was
seized. At one of the meetings of the nation, the reverend Mr.
Schermerhorn, who has performed a conspicuous part in these
transactions, distinctly apprised the Cherokees that if they re-
mained on this side of the Mississippi, their difficulties would
increase. " that the screws would be turned upon them till they
would be ground into powder."
Notwithstanding all these efforts to intimidate the nation into
an approval of this instrument, it was rejected with great una-
nimity. A delegation, however, was again appointed to nego-
tiate with the United States commissioner upon all the subjects
of difference. It appeared, however, that his powers were
limited, and in consequence of this and other causes it was
deemed advisable that the delegation should proceed to Wash-
ington, and this determination was announced to the commis-
sioner.
During the interval between the adoption and execution of
this plan, the principal chief of the nation, who was also the
chairman of the delegation, was arrested and imprisoned, his
papers seized and examined, without any cause being assigned
and without any legal process. This act of outrage, followed
by no judicial investigation, was, according to the avowal of
one of the actors in it, perpetrated by the orders of B. F. Curry,
a United States agent.
Mr. Curry himself hastened to Washington, procured an order
from the department forbidding the delegation to proceed to that
place. They notwithstanding did proceed, and on their arrival
at the seat of government apprised the department in the cus-
tomary mode of the fact ; and that they were ready to proceed in
the business which had brought them on. They were received
as usual ; propositions were invited from them with assurances
that these propositions should be acted upon.
Within a few days, however, information reached Washing-
ton that the commissioners who remained behind had negotiated
another treaty with a body of unauthorised individuals, and
was bringing on with him a delegation. This instrument, to
which less than one hundred of the nation ever gave their sanc-
tion, directly or indirectly, was in its terms unacceptable to the
president : it was again varied in Washington in some important
features ; and, notwithstanding every remonstrance and opposi-
tion on the part of the regularly authorised representatives of
the nation, was submitted to the senate, and finally obtained the
ratification of that body by a bare constitutional majority.
I have thus given you a rapid sketch of the proceedings which
terminated in the so called treaty of December, 1835. The
details may be found at large in the congressional documents.
This instrument we consider as the consummation of our
wrongs. By its provisions all the benefits which we deemed
secured to us by valid and effective treaties are in substance
annihilated, — all the territory remaining in the hands of the
nation or of individuals, is ceded. This instrument, to which
so small a portion of our people as less than one hundred have
ever been induced, by all the appliances used, to give their
sanction, is, we are told, a solemn and sacred treaty, and its
stipulations will be fully and rigidly enforced.
It was to have been expected that a measure so monstrous
and so glaring, would be followed by acts and misrepresenta-
10
tions of all sorts for the purpose of sustaining it. Paragraphs,
calculated to produce alarm and consternation, were insidiously
thrown into the public papers the moment this spurious treaty
was signed, and some of them before the news of its ratification
by the senate could have reached the nation. Rumours of an
armed opposition to its enforcement were fabricated, and one of
these publications was headed, " The Cherokees are up ! ! !"
For myself, I had calls of too serious and pressing import to
allow of my wasting time in hunting down these calumnies or
exposing these prophecies, which had no other prospect of being
verified than by themselves producing the effects they affected
to foretell. The principal agent in getting up this spurious
treaty was the reverend Mr. Schermerhorn. the same individual
who by similar means involved the country in a war with the
Seminolians, by which millions of money, and lives still more
valuable, have been lost. I was persuaded that however the
cases and the people might differ, it would be attempted to con-
found the Cherokees with the Seminolians, and to take alarm
at and to exaggerate the slightest expression of discontent. I
knew that the perpetrator of a wrong never forgives his victim ;
and that there were some who would excite our people to open
indications of resentment as a pretext for violence and a justifi-
cation of themselves. It was therefore made my earnest busi-
ness, by a calm and direct course, to endeavour to confirm the
often expressed resolution of the Cherokees, to rely entirely
upon remonstrance, and to pursue such a course as would satisfy
the people of the United States and their representatives, that
we had been the victims of injustice. Our people were assured
that when the treaty-making power should discover the real
truth he could not fail to be just.
The agents of the United States seem to be aware that the
Cherokee nation had never sanctioned this pretended treaty.
No sooner had it been hurried through the forms of ratification
than they obtained a military force to overawe the Cherokees and
to oppose every attempt to pursue a faithful and honest enquiry
into the real facts of the case. On my return to my constituents,
having been detained some time by business, I arrived at Athens,
in Tennessee, where I met General Wool, the commander of the
troops, who had actually reached our country before me. The
general expressed great satisfaction that I had come, and in-
formed me that my presence had been much wanted, as he had
already been in the valley towns, and found there a feeling so
decidedly hostile to the treaty as to require the operation of the
most powerful counteracting influences. I assured him that I
considered his admission of that fact very important, as it proved
that I had been guilty of no misrepresentation, and that his own
experience would now enable him to show General Jackson
11
that the impression under which he professed to act in making
this arrangement with the Cherokees was a mistaken one, — he
had made a compact to which only one side, and what was still
worse only the interested one, had consented, when to ratify a
bargain requires the free consent of two. General Wool, in
reply, dwelt on the impossibility of changing the determination
of the president, and hoped I would advise the people accord-
ingly, and thus prevent such scenes as had taken place in
Florida. I assured him that I would pledge my life that the
Cherokees would never assert their rights by bloodshed, but
that 1 could riot as an honest man advise their assent to a
spurious treaty. They might be persuaded to remove, and to
remove without resistance, and would be better reconciled to
their fate, if the United States would only show them the fair-
ness formally to recognise the removal as the compelled submis-
sion of the weaker to the stronger, but they would not in the
face of heaven, put their hands and seals to a falsehood. They
would not say that arrangements were brought about by honest
treaty which were really brought about by deliberate and stea-
dily resisted and. exposed craft and duplicity.
General Wool appeared chagrined at his reception in the val-
ley towns. After our interview I discovered the cause. On reach-
ing my destination I learned that various efforts had been made
on the arrival of the army in the valley towns, and in various
ways, to obtain an acknowledgment of the spurious treatv, but
without effect. Even the arms of the people had been demanded,
and, although they were actually required by the farmers for the
protection of their fields and stock from birds and beasts of prey,
in order to remove the smallest pretext for suspicion they were
forthwith given up. Some of our people were unable to under-
stand why an army should be sent among us while we were at
perfect peace, to enforce the stipulations of a treaty, which, if
even obligatory, was not to be executed for two years. Several
arrests of men and women, as afterwards appeared, were attri-
buted to expressions of natural surprise upon this head. None
of these annoyances, however, produced any unfortunate result.
The Cherokees, though unwavering in their objections to the
pretended treaty, remained and will remain inoffensive and
unresisting.
About four weeks after my return, the nation was convened
to receive the report of the delegation. The general was in-
vited to be present, with the troops under his command, — about
five hundred of the army attended. Just before the commence-
ment of the proceedings, while upon the platform, a package
was placed in my hands, addressed on the envelope to me, and
on the inside to the Cherokee people. Tt was a notice from
General Wool communicating in substance the determination
12
of President Jackson that no alteration in the treaty would be
made by him, but that its stipulations should be scrupulously
fulfilled.
This communication from General Wool was publicly read
and interpreted, and afterwards the paper called the treaty was
in like manner read and interpreted. The people were entirely
silent in relation to the former. They were then asked if they
were disposed to give their assent to the latter. They unani-
mously answered, No ! and insisted upon a new arrangement,
alleging that the one exhibited to them had been made with
irresponsible, unauthorised individuals, and contained terms and
conditions distinctly at variance with their often and publicly
proclaimed instructions.
The nation having thus spontaneously and without advice
from their rulers, rejected this spurious treaty, and disclaimed it
as their act, it appeared to me the most prudent course to en-
courage them in hoping for better things. It also occurred to
me that if those of our brethren who were already in the west,
were to unite with us in endeavouring to make the truth of the
case known, our prospects of ultimately obtaining justice would
be improved. I also knew that this portion of the nation con-
sidered the provisions of the treaty, under which they had emi-
grated and received lands beyond the Mississippi in lieu of what
was ceded in the east, as seriously infringed by the document in
question. I was further persuaded that the reason assigned for
our opposition to the arrangement, viz., our distaste for Arkan-
sas, could not be attributed to those who actually resided there.
With these impressions, I recommended the appointment of a
delegation to confer with our brethren in the west, upon the
propriety of sending a joint embassy to Washington for the pur-
pose of satisfying the government how much they had been mis-
informed and deceived, and of making a definitive arrangement
upon terms acceptable to the nation. At the same time, I assured
the people that the treaties already recognised by both parties as
existing between them and the United States, would not be bro-
ken, and they might confidently trust to that security for obtain-
ing a fair and honest adjustment of controversies, which was all
they had ever desired.
The principal resolutions consequent upon these explana-
tions are the following : —
" Whereas, an instrument has been read and interpreted to us,
purporting to be a treaty made at New Echota, on the 29th of
December, 1835, by the Reverend John F. Sehermerhorn, com-
missioner of the United States, and the chiefs, head men, and
people of the Cherokee tribe of Indians, ratified by the senate
and approved by the president of the United States ; — and
13
whereas, by the provisions of this instrument all the lands of the
Cherokees are ceded to the United States ; the private improve-
ments and possessions of individuals unjustly alienated from
their rightful owners ; the rights of the Cherokees as freemen
wrested from the guardianship of their legitimate representatives ;
and the management of their affairs placed in the hands of indi-
viduals without responsibility, and under the control of officers
of the United States government : — and whereas the makers of
said compact, who are represented as acting on the part of the
Cherokees, and who assume the style of chiefs and head men,
hold no such title or designation from the Cherokees, nor have
they received authority from the nation to form said instru-