Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
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We sometimes think that the Indians of North America were savages and little aware of the nicer points of life. I have come across a document entitled "Appeal of The Cherokee Nation dated 1830" that was prepared by the Cherokee when they had been told that they must move west beyond the Mississippi to
what was then called "Indian Territory" now called Oklahoma.
It was written by a committee of Cherokee Indians.
APPEAL OF THE CHEROKEE NATION

We are aware that some persons suppose it will be for our advantage to remove beyond the Mississippi. We think otherwise. Our people universally think otherwise. Thinking that it would be fatal to their interests, they have almost to a man sent their memorial to Congress, deprecating the necessity of a removal. The question was distinctly before their minds when they signed their memorial. Not an adult can be found who has no opinion on the subject; and if the people were to understand distinctly, that they could be protected against the laws of the neighboring states, there is probably not an adult in the nation who would think it best to remove; though possibly a few might emigrate individually. There are doubtless many who would flee to an unknown country, however beset with dangers and privations and sufferings rather than be sentenced to six years in a Georgia prison for asking one of his neighbors not to betray his country. And there are others who could not think of living as outlaws in their native land, exposewd to numberless vexations, and excluded even from being parties or witnesses in a court of justice. It is incredible that Georgia shall have enacted the oppressive laws referred to here, unless she had supposed that something extremely terrific in its character was necessary in order to make the Cherokees willing to remove. WE are not willing to remove; and if we could be brought to this extremity it would be not with argument; not because our judgement was satisfied; not because our condition will be improved---but only because we cannot endure to be deprived of our national and individual rights and subjected to a process of intolerable oppression.

We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to claim this, without interruption or molestation. The treaties with us and the Laws of the United States made in pursuance of treaties, guaranty our residence and our privileges and secure us against intruders Our only request is that these treaties may be fulfilled and these laws executed.

But if we are compelled to leave our country we see nothing but ruin before us. The country west of the Arkansas territory is unknown to us. From what we can learn of it we have njo prpossions in its favor. All the inviting parts of it as we believe are preoccupied by various Indian Nations to which it has been assigned. They would regard us as intruders and look upon us with an evuil eye. Were the country to which we are urged much better than it is represented to us and were it free to the objections we have made to it, still it is not the land of our birth, njor of our affections. It contains neither the scenes of our childhood nor the graves of our fathers.


A moving document that. Worthy to rank beside the Declaration of Independence.

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oxsan


Don't kick until yer spurred.

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ya-ha-shela oxsan

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Registered: Oct 2000
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Nia ktachwahnen

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Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:

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Originally posted by oxsan
We sometimes think that the Indians of North America were savages and little aware of the nicer points of life. . . .

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People who think that have their heads stuck in the sand. Or worse.

Several tribes were exceedingly "civilized" by our standards. The Cherokees were at the top of that civilized ladder. The long and short of it is, they got screwed to the max, their plantations, homes, land . . . everything . . . stolen. There's no other word for it. If that wasn't bad enough, they had to endure (many did not survive) the Trail Of Tears, which is the story of their forced move west.

Today, there are five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma: Cherokee Nation; Muscocee (Creek) Nation; Seminole Nation; Choctaw Nation; and Chickasaw Nation. They have their own governments and capitols. For example, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation is in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Another side note . . . The Cherokee Nation sided with the Confederacy. Y'all should read about Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie sometime.

Amen.

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I have a bit of Cherokee in me. I've gone to visit their reservation in North Carolina a few times and found it both fascinating and sad. They take you on a tour of their lands, tell you their stories and put on shows for the white man. It's surrounded by stores filled with cheap plastic ideas of what Native Americans were.

But anyway, I don't really remember what the point of this post was so I'll just click the lil button now.

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Registered: Oct 2000
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The Manifest Destiny Doctrine was based on the idea that America had a divine providence. It had a future that was destined by God to expand its borders, with no limit to area or country. All the traveling and expansion were part of the spirit of Manifest Destiny, a belief that it was God's will that Americans spread over the entire continent, and to control and populate the country as they see fit. Many expansionists conceived God as having the power to sustain and guide human destiny. It was white man's burden to conquer and christianize the land.

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Registered: Nov 2001
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I would like all to know that I left a few sentences out of the last paragraph of the Appeal wirth no tenditious purpose but rather because I got called away from my typing task. The omissions do no change the general tenor or tone of the appeal. I think this is a great piece of literature and should be taught in school alongside the Mayflower pact, the declaration of Indepence, the Constitution and other documents we hold sacred, I don't have great trust that even those documents are still taught in our schools.

This document is a poor reflecftion on the government of the United States and the State of Georgia in the year 1830 and nearby years, but that is no reason it should not to be taught to our children. Let them learn we did wrong--"we" being the Anglo
Saxon people who literally created this country. We fucked up. Let's admit it and get on with it.

Ironically many of the Cherokees were moved to Oklahoma and given airtight title to land later discovered to be rich in oil. I'M glad.

All I'm asking is that we reckon this example of the political sensitivity of the Cherokee as part of Our heritage. There is a little Cherokee blood in my veins dating back to just about this date. I'm proud or it.

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quote:

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Originally posted by oxsan
. . . Ironically many of the Cherokees were moved to Oklahoma and given airtight title to land later discovered to be rich in oil. . . .

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