Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)
Encyclopedia
Elias Boudinot (1802 – June 22, 1839), was a member of an important Cherokee
family in present-day Georgia. They believed that rapid acculturation
was critical to Cherokee survival. In 1828 Boudinot became the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix
, which was published in Cherokee and English. It showcased Cherokee achievements and served to build unity among the Nation when it was under pressure for Indian Removal
.
In 1826 he married Harriet R. Gold
, daughter of a prominent family in Cornwall, Connecticut
whom he had met while a student at the Foreign Mission School
. The union caused controversy in the town. Following his cousin John Ridge
's marriage to a New England woman in 1825, the Cherokee National Council passed a law enabling the descendants of Cherokee fathers and white mothers to be full citizens of the Cherokee. (Formerly they had no place in the matrilineal tribe, in which children belong to the mother's clan and people.) The Boudinots lived at New Echota and reared their children as Cherokee.
, who served with the Confederate Army during the American Civil War
; and Thomas Watie. They were the nephews of Major Ridge
and cousins of John Ridge
.
Boudinot, the Ridges, John Ross
, and Charles R. Hicks
and his son, Elijah Hicks, formed the ruling elite of the Cherokee Nation
in the early nineteenth century.
Watie's Christian education began in 1808, at the age of 6, when he studied at the local Moravian
missionary school. In 1812 he joined the Spring Place school, in what is now Murray County
, Georgia
. Around this time, Cherokee leaders were petitioning the government for aid to educate their children and showing that they were willing "to accept white civilization”.
Elias Cornelius, an agent from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
(ABCFM), came to the community and served as a benefactor for education. In 1817 the ABCFM opened the Foreign Mission School
in Cornwall, Connecticut
for educating promising students from American Indian cultures. In 1818 Cornelius selected Watie and a few others to go to the Foreign Mission School
. On the way, they were introduced to the Virginia statesmen Thomas Jefferson
and James Monroe
.
In Burlington, New Jersey, they met Elias Boudinot
, president of the American Bible Society
and a former member and president of the Second Continental Congress
. He and Watie made strong impressions on each other. Watie asked Boudinot for permission to use his name, to which he agreed. When enrolled at the school, Watie started using the name Elias Boudinot, which he kept for the rest of his life.
In 1820, Boudinot officially converted to Christianity
, attracted to its message of universal love. It would become part of his work with the Cherokee Nation. In 1824 he collaborated with others in translating the New Testament
into Cherokee and having it printed in the syllabary created by Sequoyah.
, daughter of a prominent local family who supported the Foreign Mission School. Her family had often invited Boudinot and other Native American students to their home. The couple began a courtship by letter, after Boudinot had to return to Cherokee Nation because of illness.
His cousin John Ridge
also attended the school and married a local young woman in 1824, which caused considerable controversy in Cornwall. After the Ridges' return to New Echota to take up residency, in 1825 the National Council passed a law providing full Cherokee citizenship to children of a Cherokee father and white mother. In the matrilineal culture, children belonged to the mother's clan, so the Cherokee had absorbed children born to Cherokee mothers and white fathers (usually fur traders). Without such a provision, the children of Ridge and Boudinot would have had no place in the Cherokee society. The high status of the two young men probably contributed to passage of the law, to ensure protection for their future children. In her book, To Marry an Indian: The Marriage of Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in Letters 1823-1839, Theresa Strouth Gaul wrote that the law was inspired by Ridge's marriage and Boudinot’s engagement, as they were prominent Cherokee and it protected their children.
Boudinot and Gold's engagement was originally opposed by her family and the Congregational Church, and roused local protests. She persisted and finally persuaded her parents to grant permission for the union. The couple were married on March 28, 1826 at her home. The uproar forced the closing of the Foreign Mission School.
The Boudinots returned to New Echota to live, where they had six children, including Elias Cornelius Boudinot
(August 1, 1835 — September 27, 1890). Harriet died in August 1836, a few months after the birth of her seventh child, which was stillborn.
, a missionary and printer. Worcester had new type created and cast for the Cherokee syllabary. In 1828, with Boudinot as editor, the two printed the Cherokee Phoenix, in Cherokee and English. While it was planned as a bi-lingual newspaper, the Phoenix had about 16 percent of its content in the Cherokee language during Boudinot's tenure.
The journalist Ann Lackey Landini believes that the Cherokee Nation intended the newspaper to explain their people to European Americans and prove their civilization. At the same time, the Council intended it to unite the Cherokee through the Southeast, and regularly published laws and other national political information in the paper.
Between 1828 and 1832, Boudinot wrote numerous editorials arguing against removal, as proposed by Georgia and supported by President Andrew Jackson, even after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
of 1830. Jackson supported removal of the Cherokee and other Southeastern peoples from their eastern lands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Over a roughly four-year period, Boudinot's editorials emphasized that Georgia's disregard of the Constitution and past federal treaties with the Cherokees would not only hurt the Cherokees' progress in acculturating but threatened the fabric of the Union. Boudinot's articles demonstrated Cherokee assimilation (conversion to Christianity, an increasingly Western-educated population, and a turn toward lives as herdsmen and farmers, etc.) He criticized the "easy" way in which treaty language was distorted by Indian Removal advocates for their own purposes.
In 1832, while engaged in a speaking tour of the North
to raise funds for the Phoenix, Boudinot learned that the United States Supreme Court
had sustained the Cherokees' rights to political and territorial sovereignty within Georgia's borders in Worcester v. Georgia
. He soon learned that President Andrew Jackson
still supported Indian Removal. In this context, Boudinot now began publicly advocating for his people to secure the best possible terms with the United States by making a binding treaty of removal. His changed position was widely opposed by the Cherokee.
The majority of Cherokee opposed removal, including the National Council and John Ross
, the Principal Chief. Former friends in the Cherokee government turned against Boudinot and other "treaty advocates," who included John Ridge and Major Ridge. They attacked their Cherokee loyalty and denied them a fair hearing in councils. Ross forbade Boudinot from discussing pro-removal arguments in the Cherokee Phoenix. In protest, Boudinot resigned his position in the spring of 1832.
tribe gave a “voice to the American insiders” who had been forced to become “outsiders". The premier edition of the newspaper was called the Tsalagi Tsu-le-hi-sa-nu-hi; it was printed on February 21, 1828. The Cherokee Phoenix office regularly received correspondence from about 100 other newspapers, published far and wide, because it was so respected throughout the United States and Europe. The next year, the second edition of the Cherokee Phoenix was named the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians’ Advocate, indicating Boudinot's attempt to influence people outside the tribe. Boudinot regularly wrote editorials related to Indian Removal.
, the growth of the cotton industry, and increased competition for land in the Southeast. European Americans resented Cherokee control of their lands, and conflicts increasingly arose. The Indian Removal Act of 1830
called for all Indian peoples living east of the Mississippi River to be removed from this area and sent west beyond the Mississippi River
. While the majority of the Cherokee led by Chief John Ross
opposed the act, Boudinot began to believe that Indian Removal was inevitable. He thought the best the Cherokee could do would be to secure their rights through treaty, before they were moved against their will. Given the threat by the US government, Boudinot and his followers caused a division within The Nation. Boudinot used all of his writing and oratory skills to influence Indian Removal policy. He criticized the popular principal chief John Ross, who opposed his ideas.
In 1832, Boudinot stepped down as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, as the tribe was against removal. He continued to promote a treaty to secure their rights during removal. He and Treaty Party leaders signed the Treaty of New Echota
(1835) in Washington, DC, ceding all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River. Although this was opposed by the majority of the delegation and lacked the signature of the Principal Chief John Ross
, the US Senate ratified the treaty. Afterward, faced with open enmity among the Cherokee, many of the signatories and their families migrated to Indian Territory
, where they located with the "Old Settlers", who had gone there in the 1820s.
During 1838 and 1839, the US Army enforced the Removal Act and evicted the Cherokee and their slaves from their homes in the Southeast. They forced most of them west into Indian Territory
(in eastern present-day Oklahoma). The Cherokee named their journey as the Trail of Tears, due to the estimated 4,000 deaths among their people that occurred because of insufficient supplies and clothing for exposure to severe weather.
to finance the construction of a modest house in Park Hill
. Reunited with his longtime friend and collaborator, Samuel Worcester
, Boudinot returned to his vocation as a translator of the Gospel.
The "Old Settlers" and John Ross' supporters failed to reach an agreement on unification following the Nation's Trail of Tears removal to Indian Territory. A dissident group of John Ross supporters met secretly to pronounce blood judgement on the Treaty Party leaders, for their role in alienating the land, which was considered a capital crime under "blood law". On June 22, 1839, a group of unknown Cherokee assassinated Boudinot outside his home. His cousin and uncle, John and Major Ridge, were assassinated the same day. Stand Watie
was attacked but survived. (Many survivors of the Trail of Tears had also blamed the three for the misery of their forced emigration.)
Though John Ross denied any connection to the killings, Boudinot's brother Stand Watie blamed the Principal Chief. After these "murders" (as Watie called them), followers of Watie and Ross engaged in violent conflict. For instance, Stand Watie killed a man whom he had seen attack his uncle Major Ridge; Watie was acquitted in self defense. The violence lasted into 1846, when a tenuous peace treaty was arranged by the United States, but the bitterness remained and contributed to tribal divisions during the American Civil War
. The assassinations of the Treaty Party leaders led to more violence during the post-removal factionalism, which compounded the misfortune of the Cherokee Nation.
During the Civil War, the Nation split into two factions in their alliances: Stand Watie and his supporters, the majority of the Nation, sided with the Confederacy (and he served as an officer in their army); Ross's with the Union.
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
family in present-day Georgia. They believed that rapid acculturation
Acculturation
Acculturation explains the process of cultural and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both interacting cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, and...
was critical to Cherokee survival. In 1828 Boudinot became the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix
Cherokee Phoenix
The Cherokee Phoenix was the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828, in New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation . The paper continued...
, which was published in Cherokee and English. It showcased Cherokee achievements and served to build unity among the Nation when it was under pressure for Indian Removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
.
In 1826 he married Harriet R. Gold
Harriet R. Gold Boudinot
Harriet Ruggles Gold Boudinot was the wife of the Cherokee leader Elias Boudinot , the editor of the Cherokee Nation newspaper The Cherokee Phoenix. Harriett was the youngest daughter of Colonel Benjamin and Eleanor Gold; theirs was a prominent Congregationalist family in Cornwall, Connecticut.The...
, daughter of a prominent family in Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,434 at the 2000 census.In 1939 poet Mark Van Doren wrote "The Hills of Little Cornwall", a short poem in which the beauties of the countryside were portrayed as seductive:The town was also home to the Foreign...
whom he had met while a student at the Foreign Mission School
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which existed between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to bring Christianity and Western culture to non-caucasian people by educating missionaries of...
. The union caused controversy in the town. Following his cousin John Ridge
John Ridge
John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee , was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He married Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England family, whom he had met while studying at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut...
's marriage to a New England woman in 1825, the Cherokee National Council passed a law enabling the descendants of Cherokee fathers and white mothers to be full citizens of the Cherokee. (Formerly they had no place in the matrilineal tribe, in which children belong to the mother's clan and people.) The Boudinots lived at New Echota and reared their children as Cherokee.
Early life and education
Gallegina was born into a leading Cherokee family in present-day Georgia, the eldest son of nine children of Uwati and Susanna Reese, who was Cherokee and European. When Uwati accepted Christianity, he took the name of David Uwatie (and later dropped the "u" from his name.) Gallegina's brothers were Isaac, better known as Stand WatieStand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
, who served with the Confederate Army during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
; and Thomas Watie. They were the nephews of Major Ridge
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge was a Cherokee Indian member of the tribal council, a lawmaker, and a leader. He was a veteran of the Chickamauga Wars, the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.Along with Charles R...
and cousins of John Ridge
John Ridge
John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee , was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He married Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England family, whom he had met while studying at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut...
.
Boudinot, the Ridges, John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
, and Charles R. Hicks
Charles R. Hicks
Charles Renatus Hicks was one of the most important Cherokee leaders in the early 19th century; together with James Vann and Major Ridge, he was one of a triumvirate of younger chiefs urging the tribe to acculturate to European-American ways and supported a Moravian mission school to educate the...
and his son, Elijah Hicks, formed the ruling elite of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation (19th century)
The Cherokee Nation of the 19th century —an historic entity —was a legal, autonomous, tribal government in North America existing from 1794–1906. Often referred to simply as The Nation by its inhabitants, it should not be confused with what is known today as the "modern" Cherokee Nation...
in the early nineteenth century.
Watie's Christian education began in 1808, at the age of 6, when he studied at the local Moravian
Moravian
Moravian refers to:* a person or thing from Moravia * Moravians * Moravian language, disputed language or dialect of the Czech language* a member or adherent of the Moravian Church...
missionary school. In 1812 he joined the Spring Place school, in what is now Murray County
Murray County, Georgia
Murray County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 36,506. The 2007 Census Estimate showed a population of 40,664. The county seat is Chatsworth.It is part of the Dalton, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Around this time, Cherokee leaders were petitioning the government for aid to educate their children and showing that they were willing "to accept white civilization”.
Elias Cornelius, an agent from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
(ABCFM), came to the community and served as a benefactor for education. In 1817 the ABCFM opened the Foreign Mission School
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which existed between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to bring Christianity and Western culture to non-caucasian people by educating missionaries of...
in Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,434 at the 2000 census.In 1939 poet Mark Van Doren wrote "The Hills of Little Cornwall", a short poem in which the beauties of the countryside were portrayed as seductive:The town was also home to the Foreign...
for educating promising students from American Indian cultures. In 1818 Cornelius selected Watie and a few others to go to the Foreign Mission School
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which existed between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to bring Christianity and Western culture to non-caucasian people by educating missionaries of...
. On the way, they were introduced to the Virginia statesmen Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
and James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
.
In Burlington, New Jersey, they met Elias Boudinot
Elias Boudinot
Elias Boudinot was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a U.S. Congressman for New Jersey...
, president of the American Bible Society
American Bible Society
The American Bible Society is an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 in New York City, which publishes, distributes and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible.It is probably best known for its...
and a former member and president of the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
. He and Watie made strong impressions on each other. Watie asked Boudinot for permission to use his name, to which he agreed. When enrolled at the school, Watie started using the name Elias Boudinot, which he kept for the rest of his life.
In 1820, Boudinot officially converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, attracted to its message of universal love. It would become part of his work with the Cherokee Nation. In 1824 he collaborated with others in translating the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
into Cherokee and having it printed in the syllabary created by Sequoyah.
Marriage and family
While studying in Connecticut, Boudinot met Harriet Ruggles GoldHarriet R. Gold Boudinot
Harriet Ruggles Gold Boudinot was the wife of the Cherokee leader Elias Boudinot , the editor of the Cherokee Nation newspaper The Cherokee Phoenix. Harriett was the youngest daughter of Colonel Benjamin and Eleanor Gold; theirs was a prominent Congregationalist family in Cornwall, Connecticut.The...
, daughter of a prominent local family who supported the Foreign Mission School. Her family had often invited Boudinot and other Native American students to their home. The couple began a courtship by letter, after Boudinot had to return to Cherokee Nation because of illness.
His cousin John Ridge
John Ridge
John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee , was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He married Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England family, whom he had met while studying at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut...
also attended the school and married a local young woman in 1824, which caused considerable controversy in Cornwall. After the Ridges' return to New Echota to take up residency, in 1825 the National Council passed a law providing full Cherokee citizenship to children of a Cherokee father and white mother. In the matrilineal culture, children belonged to the mother's clan, so the Cherokee had absorbed children born to Cherokee mothers and white fathers (usually fur traders). Without such a provision, the children of Ridge and Boudinot would have had no place in the Cherokee society. The high status of the two young men probably contributed to passage of the law, to ensure protection for their future children. In her book, To Marry an Indian: The Marriage of Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in Letters 1823-1839, Theresa Strouth Gaul wrote that the law was inspired by Ridge's marriage and Boudinot’s engagement, as they were prominent Cherokee and it protected their children.
Boudinot and Gold's engagement was originally opposed by her family and the Congregational Church, and roused local protests. She persisted and finally persuaded her parents to grant permission for the union. The couple were married on March 28, 1826 at her home. The uproar forced the closing of the Foreign Mission School.
The Boudinots returned to New Echota to live, where they had six children, including Elias Cornelius Boudinot
Elias Cornelius Boudinot
Elias Cornelius Boudinot was a delegate to the Arkansas secession convention, a colonel in the Confederate States Army, and a territorial representative in the Confederate Congress.-Life:...
(August 1, 1835 — September 27, 1890). Harriet died in August 1836, a few months after the birth of her seventh child, which was stillborn.
Career as editor
After his return to New Echota, in 1828 Boudinot was selected by the General Council of the Cherokee as editor for a newspaper, the first to be published by a Native American nation. He worked with a new friend Samuel WorcesterSamuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester , was a missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer and defender of the Cherokee's sovereignty. He was a party in Worcester v...
, a missionary and printer. Worcester had new type created and cast for the Cherokee syllabary. In 1828, with Boudinot as editor, the two printed the Cherokee Phoenix, in Cherokee and English. While it was planned as a bi-lingual newspaper, the Phoenix had about 16 percent of its content in the Cherokee language during Boudinot's tenure.
The journalist Ann Lackey Landini believes that the Cherokee Nation intended the newspaper to explain their people to European Americans and prove their civilization. At the same time, the Council intended it to unite the Cherokee through the Southeast, and regularly published laws and other national political information in the paper.
Between 1828 and 1832, Boudinot wrote numerous editorials arguing against removal, as proposed by Georgia and supported by President Andrew Jackson, even after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...
of 1830. Jackson supported removal of the Cherokee and other Southeastern peoples from their eastern lands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Over a roughly four-year period, Boudinot's editorials emphasized that Georgia's disregard of the Constitution and past federal treaties with the Cherokees would not only hurt the Cherokees' progress in acculturating but threatened the fabric of the Union. Boudinot's articles demonstrated Cherokee assimilation (conversion to Christianity, an increasingly Western-educated population, and a turn toward lives as herdsmen and farmers, etc.) He criticized the "easy" way in which treaty language was distorted by Indian Removal advocates for their own purposes.
In 1832, while engaged in a speaking tour of the North
Northern United States
Northern United States, also sometimes the North, may refer to:* A particular grouping of states or regions of the United States of America. The United States Census Bureau divides some of the northernmost United States into the Midwest Region and the Northeast Region...
to raise funds for the Phoenix, Boudinot learned that the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
had sustained the Cherokees' rights to political and territorial sovereignty within Georgia's borders in Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Indians from being present on Indian lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional.The...
. He soon learned that President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
still supported Indian Removal. In this context, Boudinot now began publicly advocating for his people to secure the best possible terms with the United States by making a binding treaty of removal. His changed position was widely opposed by the Cherokee.
The majority of Cherokee opposed removal, including the National Council and John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
, the Principal Chief. Former friends in the Cherokee government turned against Boudinot and other "treaty advocates," who included John Ridge and Major Ridge. They attacked their Cherokee loyalty and denied them a fair hearing in councils. Ross forbade Boudinot from discussing pro-removal arguments in the Cherokee Phoenix. In protest, Boudinot resigned his position in the spring of 1832.
Cherokee Phoenix
The first newspaper published by a Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe gave a “voice to the American insiders” who had been forced to become “outsiders". The premier edition of the newspaper was called the Tsalagi Tsu-le-hi-sa-nu-hi; it was printed on February 21, 1828. The Cherokee Phoenix office regularly received correspondence from about 100 other newspapers, published far and wide, because it was so respected throughout the United States and Europe. The next year, the second edition of the Cherokee Phoenix was named the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians’ Advocate, indicating Boudinot's attempt to influence people outside the tribe. Boudinot regularly wrote editorials related to Indian Removal.
"An Address to the Whites" (1826)
This speech was delivered in the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, May 26, 1826. Boudinot described the similarities between the Cherokee and the whites, and ways in which the Cherokee were adopting aspects of white culture. He hoped to solicit donations for a national academy and for printing equipment to further “civilize” and “Christianize” the Cherokee population. Following the speech, a pamphlet was created under the same title, transcribing Boundinot’s original speech. "An Address to the Whites" was well received and "proved to be remarkably effective at fund-raising”.Influence on Indian Removal
The Indian removal policy was a result of the discovery of gold in Cherokee territoryGeorgia Gold Rush
The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States. It started in 1828 in the present day Lumpkin County near county seat Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became harder to find...
, the growth of the cotton industry, and increased competition for land in the Southeast. European Americans resented Cherokee control of their lands, and conflicts increasingly arose. The Indian Removal Act of 1830
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...
called for all Indian peoples living east of the Mississippi River to be removed from this area and sent west beyond the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. While the majority of the Cherokee led by Chief John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
opposed the act, Boudinot began to believe that Indian Removal was inevitable. He thought the best the Cherokee could do would be to secure their rights through treaty, before they were moved against their will. Given the threat by the US government, Boudinot and his followers caused a division within The Nation. Boudinot used all of his writing and oratory skills to influence Indian Removal policy. He criticized the popular principal chief John Ross, who opposed his ideas.
In 1832, Boudinot stepped down as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, as the tribe was against removal. He continued to promote a treaty to secure their rights during removal. He and Treaty Party leaders signed the Treaty of New Echota
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, known as the Treaty Party...
(1835) in Washington, DC, ceding all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River. Although this was opposed by the majority of the delegation and lacked the signature of the Principal Chief John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
, the US Senate ratified the treaty. Afterward, faced with open enmity among the Cherokee, many of the signatories and their families migrated to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
, where they located with the "Old Settlers", who had gone there in the 1820s.
During 1838 and 1839, the US Army enforced the Removal Act and evicted the Cherokee and their slaves from their homes in the Southeast. They forced most of them west into Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(in eastern present-day Oklahoma). The Cherokee named their journey as the Trail of Tears, due to the estimated 4,000 deaths among their people that occurred because of insufficient supplies and clothing for exposure to severe weather.
Assassination
In 1837 after his wife's death, Boudinot relocated with their children to the Western Cherokee Nation (which had been established in the northeast quarter of what is today Oklahoma by previously displaced Cherokee, called the "Old Settlers"). He arrived impoverished and was forced to secure a loan from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign MissionsAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
to finance the construction of a modest house in Park Hill
Park Hill, Oklahoma
Park Hill is a census-designated place in southwestern Cherokee County, Oklahoma in the United States. The population was 3,936 at the 2000 census. It lies near Tahlequah, east of the junction of U.S. Route 62 and State Highway 82.-History:...
. Reunited with his longtime friend and collaborator, Samuel Worcester
Samuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester , was a missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer and defender of the Cherokee's sovereignty. He was a party in Worcester v...
, Boudinot returned to his vocation as a translator of the Gospel.
The "Old Settlers" and John Ross' supporters failed to reach an agreement on unification following the Nation's Trail of Tears removal to Indian Territory. A dissident group of John Ross supporters met secretly to pronounce blood judgement on the Treaty Party leaders, for their role in alienating the land, which was considered a capital crime under "blood law". On June 22, 1839, a group of unknown Cherokee assassinated Boudinot outside his home. His cousin and uncle, John and Major Ridge, were assassinated the same day. Stand Watie
Stand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
was attacked but survived. (Many survivors of the Trail of Tears had also blamed the three for the misery of their forced emigration.)
Though John Ross denied any connection to the killings, Boudinot's brother Stand Watie blamed the Principal Chief. After these "murders" (as Watie called them), followers of Watie and Ross engaged in violent conflict. For instance, Stand Watie killed a man whom he had seen attack his uncle Major Ridge; Watie was acquitted in self defense. The violence lasted into 1846, when a tenuous peace treaty was arranged by the United States, but the bitterness remained and contributed to tribal divisions during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The assassinations of the Treaty Party leaders led to more violence during the post-removal factionalism, which compounded the misfortune of the Cherokee Nation.
During the Civil War, the Nation split into two factions in their alliances: Stand Watie and his supporters, the majority of the Nation, sided with the Confederacy (and he served as an officer in their army); Ross's with the Union.
External links
- Paul Ridenour, "The Stand Watie and Elias Boudinot Family (Sons of David Oo-wa-tie)", Paul Ridenour Website (genealogy)