Jacksonland: A Great American Land Grab (39 page)

“talk big”
Ibid.

intruders had ignored a January first deadline to depart
Correspondence to and from the office of Secretary of War John C. Calhoun shows an Indian agent being told on October 11, 1819, that he must order white intruders to “remove by the 1st January next, and that, after that time, no indulgence will be given them.” On January 29, 1820, the deadline past, the agent is merely told to urge the intruders to leave, although “force must be used” at some undetermined time if they have not. Meriwether et al.,
Papers of John C. Calhoun
, vol. 4,
pp. 369–70, 616.

“shrubing” work was “indispensible”
Jackson to John C. Calhoun, May 17, 1820, Owsley et al.,
Papers of Andrew Jackson
, vol. 4,
p. 369.

“will give us the whole country in less than two years”
Jackson to John Coffee, July 13, 1817,
ibid.,
p. 126.

“except those prepared for agricultural persuits, civil life, & a government of laws”
I
bid.,
pp. 126–27.

imposed over the protest of dozens
Sixty-seven leaders, according to Moulton,
John Ross, Cherokee Chief,
p. 19.

“the interposition of your Fatherly hand”
Ross to James Monroe, March 5, 1819, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross,
vol. 1, pp. 34–35.

“the conduct of the malitious and lawless class”
Ross to William H. Crawford, March 12, 1816, ibid., p. 27.

a little army of about seventy
Richard Keith call to Jackson, July 8, 1820, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 4, p. 373.

Jackson believed it was a mistake
He expressed this view to George Graham, July 22, 1817, ibid., p. 128.

Chapter Twelve: Ominous of Other Events

“in direct lines to the South seas”
Colonial charter quoted in Harden,
Life of George M. Troup,
p. 1.

“These parts are little known”
Gabriel,
Elias Boudinot, Cherokee, and His America,
1799 map reproduced on unnumbered page.

A map made by a Virginian
The story of the map is told in Cohen,
Mapping the West,
pp. 58–59.

“The government is determined to exert all its energy”
Jefferson’s letter was reprinted in
Niles’ Weekly Register
, January 23, 1830, p. 357.

“extinguish the Indian title . . . peaceably obtained, on reasonable terms”
Articles of Agreement and Cession, April 24, 1802, American State Papers, 7th Cong-, 1st Sess., Doc. 69, pp. 113–14.

“The same treaty ought to have extinguished”
Harden,
Life of George M. Troup
, p. 198.

“insisting” on an “immediate fulfillment”
Letter reprinted in ibid.
,
p. 218.

“insult” . . . “defiance”
Adams diary entry, February 12, 1824,
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams
, vol. 6,
p. 255.

“His Excellency, Governor and Commander”
For example, in a document reprinted in Troup,
Governor’s Message,
p. 73.

“The President spoke of the compact”
Adams diary entry, March 29, 1824,
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams
, vol. 6,
p. 272.

“manners and deportment . . . like ourselves,” “purfled scarf”
Ibid.
,
p. 373.

“They are now . . . about fifteen thousand”
Ibid.
,
p. 272.

“write their own State papers”
Ibid.
,
p. 373.

“general expressions of kindness”
Ibid.

“The great difficulty arises from the progress of the Cherokees”
Ibid.
,
pp. 272–73.

“I suspected this bursting forth of Georgia”
Adams diary entry, February 12, 1824,
ibid.,
p. 256.

Chapter Thirteen: The Taverns Were Unknown to Us

take over part of Florida
John Ross et al. to secretary of war, early 1824, cited in Harden,
Life of George M. Troup,
p. 202.

“enter into a treaty with the United States”
Ibid.
,
pp. 202–3.

“the day would arrive . . .
prejudice
will be removed”
Ross et al. to “His Excellency John Q. Adams,” March 12, 1825, reproduced in Troup,
Governor’s Message
, pp. 127–28.

A full-color portrait shows Major Ridge
McKenney and Hall,
History of the Indian Tribes
, vol. 2,
p. 76.

“He who slays the enemy in the path”
Ibid.
,
p. 77.

his father loaded the family onto canoes and fled
Ibid.
,
p. 78.

“I shall make you dreadful”
Ibid.
,
p. 79; Wilkins,
Cherokee Tragedy,
pp. 11–12.

Ridge killed a white man with a spear
Wilkins,
Cherokee Tragedy,
p. 15.

“I came along the top of the mountain”
McKenney and Hall,
History of the Indian Tribes
, vol. 2,
p. 77.

a pistol, a tomahawk, and a spade
Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy, pp. 37–38.

Sehoya or Susanna, may have spurred him
Wilkins,
Cherokee Tragedy,
p. 28.

1,141 peach trees . . . thirty slaves
Ibid.
,
pp. 181–83.

a ferry, a toll road, and a popular trading post
Ibid.
,
p. 183.

tribute totaling $25,000
Major Ridge received $10,000; his son, John Ridge, $15,000. Ibid.
,
p. 171.

Pathkiller . . . [and Charles Hicks] had died
Anderson et al.,
Payne-Butrick Papers
, vol. 2,
pp. 143–44.

Charles Hicks . . . had been tutoring Ross on Cherokee history
Moulton calls him Ross’s “mentor,” in
John Ross: Cherokee Chief,
p. 33. Upon Hicks’s death he left Ross papers on Cherokee history, which were still in his possession years later. Anderson et al.,
Payne-Butrick Papers
, Introduction to Vols. 1–3,
p. xvi.

a hundred one-acre lots
Cherokee legislative resolution, November 12, 1825, quoted in Woodward,
The Cherokees,
p. 151. David Gomez, manager of the New Echota historic site, adds that some buyers purchased multiple acres, giving New Echota more the feel of a rural village; interview, September 2014.

“would be called respectable in Litchfield County”
Benjamin Gold to Gold and Vaill, October 29, 1829, reproduced in Gaul,
To Marry an Indian,
p. 166.

two floors, one for each branch of the legislature, with simple wooden benches
The original structure is long since gone, but a replica stands at the New Echota historic site.

“From my earliest Boyhood . . . firmly confirmed”
Ross to Andrew Johnson, June 28, 1866, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 2,
p. 678.

In 1810, one Christian mission
Conversion figures from McLoughlin,
Cherokee Renascence,
chart p. 382.

scholar reported that they did not want to expose tribal divisions
Ibid.
,
pp. 391–93.

1821, when some local chiefs allegedly conspired
Ibid.,
pp. 269–70.

“Article I, Sec. 1”
Cherokee Phoenix
, February 21, 1828, p. 1.

“every expense”
John Cocke to John Ross and Major Ridge, October 1827, reprinted in
Cherokee Phoenix
, May 28, 1828.

despised the federal practice of calling special meetings
Ross to Monroe, March 5, 1819, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
pp. 34–35.

“We are correctly informed”
John Cocke to John Ross and Major Ridge, October 1827, reprinted in
Cherokee Phoenix
, May 28, 1828.

“We are sorry to discover”
Ross and Ridge to Cocke et al., October 11, 1827, reprinted in
Cherokee Phoenix
, May 28, 1828.

“It is true there is no palace”
John Cocke to John Ross and Major Ridge, October 1827, ibid.

“We do not understand the idea”
Ross and Ridge to Cocke et al., ibid.

“As to the four taverns spoken of we assure you that they were unknown to us”
Ibid.

“In giving you this definitive reply”
Ross and other Cherokee legislators to Cocke et al., ibid.

Interlude: Hero’s Progress, 1824–1825
Chapter Fourteen: Liberty, Equality, and True Social Order

“walking and talking . . . and coughing”
Smith,
First Forty Years of Washington Society,
p. 146.

“At an early hour the galleries”
Argus of Western America
, January 5, 1825, p. 1.

women had been granted a rare dispensation
National Intelligencer
, December 11, 1824, p. 3.

“A great number of additional seats”
Argus of Western America
, January 5, 1825.

contested vote, 90–69
National Intelligencer
, December 11, 1824, p. 3.

“General La Fayette entered the House”
Argus of Western America, January 5, 1825, p. 1.

“Few of the members who compose this body”
Clay speech reprinted in
Argus of Western America
, January 5, 1825.

Jackson was in Washington that December
He arrived on December 7. Jackson to William Berkeley Lewis, December 8, 1824, Owsley et al.,
Papers of Andrew Jackson
, vol. 5,
p. 453.

“the forests felled”
Argus of Western America, January 5, 1825, p. 1.

estimated at fifty thousand
Unknown, Life of Lafayette, p. 127.

an article on Lafayette appeared in
Tuscumbian
, September 8, 1824, p. 3.

“the Oriental languages” . . . “Rhetoric and Eloquence” . . . “the useful arts”
Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, vol. 1,
pp. 40–41.

“immense and splendid cut-glass chandelier”
Unknown,
Life of Lafayette
, p. 151.

Vanderbilt boats . . . Northeast Corridor
Stiles,
Commodore
, p. 70.

“three hundred weavers . . . one hundred and fifty butchers”
Unknown,
Life of Lafayette
, p. 154.

“the thunder of a cannon a thousand times repeated
”
: Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, vol. 1,
p. 107.

“houses, trees and animals”
Ibid.
,
p. 96.

“without resting one day”
Jackson to William Berkeley Lewis, December 8, 1824, Owsley et al.,
Papers of Andrew Jackson
, vol. 5,
p. 453.

“My dear husband was unwell nearly the whole of our journey”
Rachel Jackson to Elizabeth Kingsley, December 23, 1824,
ibid.,
p. 456.

“is in better health than when we came”
Ibid.

a Pawnee chief, in full headdress, observing the proceedings
The House historian describes the chief as Pawnee. Office of the Historian and Clerk of the House, “Old Hall of the House of Representatives,”
History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives,
history.house.gov.

“continued devotion to liberty”
Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, vol. 2,
p. 15.

“your consistency of character”
Argus of Western America
, January 5, 1825, p. 1.

“very evidently affected”
Ibid.

“Well may I stand firm and erect”
Ibid.

$50 REWARD
Ibid.

A proposal for a tax . . . was defeated, 33–30
Ibid.

between “rash” abolitionists and those who found slavery a “blessing”
Clay,
Speech of the Hon. Henry Clay Before the American Colonization Society,
January 20, 1827.

Chapter Fifteen: Clay Is Politically Damd

“paralyzed all the electoral ardour”
Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, vol. 2,
p. 23.

“been able to restrict . . . ambitious and designing”
Ibid.

secretary of state preparing to sleep with the common passengers
Ibid.
,
pp. 161–62.

“I had never thought the probability of my election sufficient”
Adams diary entry, December 15, 1824,
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams
,
vol. 6,
p. 443.

“Pennsylvania Hospital for Sick and Insane Persons”
Adams diary entry, October 4, 1824,
ibid.,
p. 423.

the experience had not reformed him in any way
Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, vol. 1,
p. 154.

“vice and guilty lives . . . and scorn”
Adams diary entry, October. 4 1824,
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams
, vol. 6,
p. 423.